When the snow brought you back
by icelight11
Summary: Waiting is never easy. But if you learn to deal with it, it can reap rewards. Two people meet again at a ski resort after five years of separation. How will one get the other to reciprocate their feelings? Is reciprocation even the issue? Amuto, AmuxIkuto
1. Closets can bring people joy!

_**Alex's notes:** Hello everyone~ Ahh, yes. I'm Alexandrya, & this is my first fanfic.  
This was meant to be a one-shot, but I just couldn't stop writing and it became too long, thus I made it a short-story. I tried to keep everyone as in-character as possible, but I'm sorry if I slip up, I'm not used to using characters that aren't mine. I hope you enjoy it anyway! Oh, and just so you all know; I'm referring to Episodes 35, 49, and 60 in that order in the first parts of the story. I'll put a '*' so you can see what I'm talking about in case you haven't seen or don't remember those episodes. Also, please keep in mind that since everyone's older now in this fan fic they've all matured a bit and are coming to terms with their 'would be selves.', namely Amu. Also, about the Charas… I couldn't leave them out, but at the same time, their just kinda there… they don't have a huge significance. Sorry!_

_On a final note, please review! I don't care if it's a short feedback comment or a thorough analysis. I love reviews; they help me get a better view of how I'm doing on writing, and are also fun to read. So don't be shy!_

_Warning: Contains spoilers for the manga up to chapter 38 and a few anime filler episodes as well!  
Disclaimer: I do not own Shugo Chara!_

Summary: Waiting is never easy. But if you learn to deal with it, it can reap rewards. Two people meet again at a ski resort after five years of separation. How will one get the other to reciprocate their feelings? Is reciprocation even the issue? Amuto, AmuxIkuto

* * *

_When the snow brought you back_

Chapter 1: Closets _can_ bring people joy!

_A feeling of numbness that overcame me… and perhaps him, too. That absence and sudden uncertainty that led to who I am now, and to this new feeling in my life. I'll never forget it. I'm sure he won't either._

It was the week after graduation from high school. I was eighteen. Tadase, Nagihiko, Rima and I had been planning a trip for a long time. After awhile, it was decided we'd take a skiing trip, like the one we had taken when we were in elementary school. I think we chose the mountains just for that extra feeling of nostalgia, but no one ever mentioned it.

Yaya, although she was a year younger than everyone, was coming too of course. Along with Kukai, and Utau as well, who were both twenty. I guess you could say it was a reunion. And well, this was all nice and dandy and all, but I'll cut to the chase. That was only about 50% of what I was excited about. The other half...

Well, to explain that, I'd have to explain what happened a few years back. Back when Easter had used that device to make Ikuto transform into the death rebel, I suppose I could say that I was too naïve to understand myself. I had transformed with Ran, Miki, Suu, and Dia into Amulet Fortune, and Ikuto, the Seven Seas Treasure. With the support of everyone, we defeated Easter at the top of the building that night with few problems. But the unfortunate fact was that Gozen got away. After we defeated his company, Gozen had disappeared without a trace. Worried for his safety, Utau convinced Ikuto to leave for awhile, and he set off to America so we could rest at ease knowing that no one from Easter would go after him. He was to stay there until we were all positive that Easter had disbursed and cleared out completely.

That was five years ago, and I hadn't heard from him since. I think Utau has, but I never asked because I feared she'd bite my head off if I did. During those five years, I had plenty of time to decide where my true feelings lie. As time went on through middle school, my crush on Tadase faded nothing into a strong sense of friendship and admiration for him. I realized that I had only liked Tadase because of his outside Prince-like character façade. His true inside character, the strong, kingly, belittling, and demanding side of him, was not something I was prepared to handle. It was too different than that of his façade, and I eventually decided that I should not fall for the outer shell of him. Of course, it took me awhile to wean myself off of him, but I eventually did it. These days, Tadase and I are extremely close, almost like siblings.

But, I probably would have continued in liking Tadase and wouldn't have made the choice I made now, if it hadn't been for Ikuto's absence. After he left, it gave me _more_ than enough time to think about how I felt. With his presence gone, I realized who Ikuto was to me. He was kind of like the guardian who _could_ be seen, unlike a Guardian Character. He was always there to save me, and was there when I needed someone to talk to at times. I always felt comfortable enough to be myself around him, not having to use that old 'cool and spicy' character when I was with him. He was even one of those few people who noticed my subtle changes from time to time.

Whenever he spoke to me in a serious manor when I was younger, he spoke in such a way that taught me a lot in a very simple fashion, needing only a few words to get his point across. For example, the time he had broken his violin string and had brought me to *Kotone's violin shop. I remember that I was going to repair her violin with Suu's _Remake Honey_, but Ikuto taught me that sometimes things are better done yourself or else you won't learn anything. When I thought about it a little, it made me happy that I didn't use _Remake Hone_y on my cousin *Shuu's wedding cake.

He even tried to make me hate him to ensure that I stayed away from him when Easter was after him by upsetting Tadase at my house that time when he had stayed over for a few days. He wanted to make sure that I wouldn't get caught up with Easter like he did, and that was the only way he knew how to do so. I may not have understood it then, but that was probably one of the nicest things he had ever done for me.

And following a long while after he'd left, it hit me: I'd always liked Ikuto without even noticing. And the signs had always been there, but I'd never been able to come to terms with myself on them! The quickening of my heart beat when he was close to me, the way I stammered and my face turned an uncontrollable shade of red when he said something or came in any form of contact with me. The reason why I had always thought of both him _and_ Tadase when I was thinking of the people I liked, and the reason why *Koyomi had told me I had to choose between two things that I desired. I had always discarded my thoughts of Ikuto as him just being a person who was good at invading another's thoughts, but now, I understood that I actually _liked _him.

When I had finally figured that out, I felt so dense. I had wasted the small amount of time with him, and by the time I grasped who Ikuto was to me, he was already gone. Since I'd figured out that aspect myself, I became more conscious of the other pieces of me as well. I'd started taking jogs now and then with Ran and being more honest with the people around me, and I began to try and improve my drawing skills with Miki while building my ability to think things through calmly. My cooking skills had developed too with Suu's help, and I realized with the help of Dia that I could almost always find the answers I seek within myself, and that I could sing really well if I tried! But I decided that I would only sing for fun.

The reason why this reunion meant so much to me was, for one, it was one of the few times I'd ever get to spend with all of my friends at the same time, and two, because Utau had told me Ikuto would be returning from America to join us. Once she had told me this two weeks prior too the trip, I had become even more ecstatic. I marked my calendar every day, and my mood had boosted to a constant euphoric tone as I waited. When the day finally came, I was so happy that it was almost out of character for me.

"Amu-chan… are you sure you're okay? You've been acting weird ever since we got on the bus. And when we were on the boat too…"

"O-okay? Of course I'm okay! Never been better!"

"But people don't shudder when their 'okay'. And you're never this excited about anything. Ever."

"Y-yeah well, what do you know anyway? For all you know, I could be at my maximum point of jubilance! Don't kill the vibe!"

"Whatever you say, Amu-chan…"

We were all on the bus, at long last. Two weeks after finding out Ikuto was returning, the hours of waiting were finally coming to an end. I was in the second to first seat by the window, sitting next to Nagihiko, who was eying me suspiciously. And I couldn't blame him, since I was so excited (and nervous) that I was shuddering in my seat with some creepy foreign smile planted on my face. Heck, I was probably scaring him.

"Amu-chi must be on something today…" Yaya, whispered to an apprehensive Rima, the two staring at me from across the other seat.

"H-hey! I heard that! I am not _on_ something!"

"You must be since you have the jitters. What, did you have too much coffee this morning or something?"

"I guess you could say that…" I murmured, closing my eyes and taking in a deep breath. I tried to calm down, and it eventually worked until the bus abruptly began to move. I opened my eyes with a sudden 'eep', hopping a little in my seat, and the shuddering resumed, but in less quantity. I didn't notice the bus driver shift into gear, so it startled me a little.

"Amu-chan, what's wrong?" Ran floated up beside me, a worried expression on her face. Miki, Suu, and Dia all had the look as well, staring down at me from the top of the empty seat in front of me.

"Oh, the bus just startled me, that's all! I've really been looking forward to this trip so I'm just a little jumpy…" Although this was true, I hadn't told anyone about my discovering of how I felt about Ikuto. Even my own guardian characters were unaware of it, which is probably why they thought something was up when I acted so jumpy. They usually knew the reason why because I normally told them everything, but this one time I had decided to keep it a secret. Secrets were almost non-existent between the five of us, but I decided it would be better not to tell anyone because I hadn't been sure of what to make of it myself. At least, not until two weeks ago.

"You're probably the most excited out of all of us then, because I'm bored." Rima mumbled almost nonchalantly. But I just smiled at her, knowing she didn't really mean it. Rima was just better at keeping a straight face than I; and was probably just as excited as I was. Well, maybe not _as_ excited, but a lot more so than usual.

"Amu sure is spirited today! That's good; she can snow board twice as long when we get to the ski resort!" Kukai exclaimed from the bus chair diagonal from me, next to him seated a calm peaceful Tadase by the window. Utau sat silently alone in the seat behind me, she was probably looking out the window trying to block out our constant chatter.

"Amu-chan, I had no idea you were this excited about the ski trip!" Tadase observed, smiling sweetly at me.

"Yeah well, I guess I was just holding in all the enthusiasm for awhile…"

"The more enthusiasm you store up, the more energetic you'll be!" Kukai proclaimed loudly, a look of excitement suddenly appearing on his face as he got an idea. "Amu! We should team up when we have a snowball fight! With your sudden burst of energy and my wits, we'll surely beat the others!"

"That might actually be a good idea… hey, wait! What do you mean by 'wits'?! Are you implying I'm not as smart as you!?"

"Hehe, you would be the one to catch that extra comment." He chuckled, covering his mouth to prevent an outburst of laughter. I sighed blissfully and relaxed in my seat, looking out the window as the others continued to chatter with one another. This was definitely what life was supposed to be all about. Spending time with the people who are most important to you, and enjoying all the time you have with them. We hadn't even arrived at the mountains, and yet I was already having fun.

As I relaxed in my seat, I found my thoughts wandering to Ikuto again. What he might look like now, if his personality had somehow changed, how much taller he may have gotten, and perhaps the stories he'd bring back from America. Utau had told me he was supposed to meet us at the resort, so this would be the last time I had time to think about what I was going to talk about. I was worried it might be awkward after not seeing him for five years, so I had thought up various things to talk about so that I could vanquish the silences that might come.

"Amu-chan is keeping secrets from us…" Miki inquired, floating next to me as I gazed out of the window, taking a trip through in cloud nine. I was startled by her sudden accusation because it was so accurate. I had been able to keep my behavior under control, but now that I was actually on the bus and going to the resort, I had let myself slip-up. Miki caught onto things a bit too quickly.

"W-what do you mean Miki? I'm not keeping anything from anyone."

"Mhmmmm…" Miki responded in a hushed tone, a sly all-knowing grin on her face and crossed arms as she floated a little closer to my face. "Amu, don't forget, I'm your more level-headed would be self. I don't make excuses, and that includes excuses for the way you've been acting. I hope you don't think I haven't noticed that ever since Utau told you Ikuto was coming back, you've changed a little. Dia's noticed too, and although Ran and Suu have yet too notice the cause or when it started, they know something's up. So spill. What's the deal?"

"I – I, um, I…" I glanced at Nagihiko seated next to me; he was too busy helping Yaya in teasing Rima about something to notice my conversation with Miki. I looked back at her expecting expression, my other three charas starting to float near her.

"Well… How do you say it…? I um…" I prattled a little, avoiding eye contact with my Guardians. I'd worked so hard to keep this my little secret, and Miki had just snatched away my hush-hush topic…

"Amu-chan, you can tell us anything without having to worry about us blathering it about it, you know that by now." Dia commented insightfully.

"She's right, Amu! Come on; tell us what's on your mind!" Ran said encouragingly.

"We can help; desu!" Suu chimed in.

I sighed. There was no escaping these guys. But honestly, I was a little relived finally to tell someone. Just because I kept it a secret from everyone that I had fallen for that cat-eared kid, didn't mean I didn't _want_ them to know. I just thought it was for the best. But still, now didn't quite seem like the time, what with all the other people around. Someone could be eavesdropping without my noticing!

"Okay guys, I promise to tell you all. But only after the ride, okay? I don't want to be overheard."

"Promise?" Ran asked, sounding a little doubtful.

"I promise!" Smiling, I held up pinky finger to her, and she gripped it with both of her hands as we shook on it. But the moment was killed when I suddenly felt an unidentified object hit my head. It hit the floor with a soft _*tish*_ sound, and I looked down to see that a hacky sack was the item of my oppression.

"What is the meaning of this!?" I roared; picking up the hacky sack and glaring at Kukai, assuming it was him who threw it.

"I wonder, what _is_ the meaning? To be or not to be… to eat or not to eat… to throw something at Amu or to not throw something at Amu… is this meaning of life? Perhaps." He crossed his arms and grinned with false innocence; even Tadase couldn't help but laugh a little.

"To kill Kukai or not to kill Kukai. That isn't a question; it's just a way of life!" I shouted as I threw the hacky sack at Kukai's face, he caught it effortlessly but his grin grew.

"Is that a declaration of war?"

"You bet it is."

"Bring it!"

Suddenly, everyone brought out their own hacky sacks (accept for Utau of course, who was still gazing out the window, seemingly unaware to the clash that was about to occur.) and aimed at me. I let a small squeal escape as I ducked for cover, protecting my head from the barrage of hacky sacks. After the attack had ended, I hastily picked up one of the sacks that had landed near me and thrust it at Rima, who had the expression almost as outraged and startled as the guy from the painting called 'the scream'. She glared at me, picking up the sack I'd just thrown at her and aiming with as much accuracy as she could muster.

This was going to be a long ride.

***

And as it turned out, _was_ a long ride. After about 15 minutes of war, the bus driver yelled at us and told us to sit down. All of us let a tranquil atmosphere fall upon us. Yaya was the first to fall asleep. As she drooled against the window of the bus, her slumber was followed by Rima, and then Tadase. Eventually, one by one, everyone fell asleep once we were two hours into the ride. Accept me, that is. I couldn't sleep. But I wasn't surprised that everyone was tired already, we had all woken up at four in the morning so that we could be ready to leave by five. First, we'd taken a flight to Aomon, which took about two hours. Then we took a boat to Hakodate, which only took about thirty minutes, and then we took _another _flight to Furano which took another two hours. After that, we caught the bus that would take us up to the mountain. I had been so scared on the planes that I didn't have time to be as excited and happy as I was on the boat or bus, seeing as I wasn't used to planes because I hadn't been on an airplane since I went to go see my cousins wedding almost six years back.

With an hour to go until we reached our destination, I took the time I had alone to day dream. Do I even need to describe my thoughts? Everyone should know what I was thinking about by now.

As I looked out the window, I noticed the bus was making its way under some thick looking clouds. After it finally drove under, I realized that the thick clouds were nimbostratus clouds. Though it bared no special features or shapes, and seemed to be just a flat blanket of dark grey covering the vast sky, it made up for it in the snow that fell. At first it was just a few dots here and there, but as we approached the foot of the mountain and made our way deeper into the clouds, the flakes began to fall a bit more fiercely. It was just a little, but enough to enjoy. I smiled at this.

"Amu-chan looks peaceful, desu…" Suu floated up next to me, rubbing her eyes softly. She smiled that sweet, innocent smile that seemed to be her trademark.

"Yeah, it's just nice to see snow fall. It's calming…" A comfortable silence fell after that. Suu hovered over to sit on my shoulder, watching the snow outside the window fall with me.

"Hey, Amu?" she asked after a few moments had passed.

"Hmm?"

"Since everyone's asleep, you could tell me what's on your mind right now and get it over with. I'll tell the other three later, if you want."

Before I replied, I stood up slightly and looked around. Rima and Yaya were still sleeping, and Kukai was leaning Tadase messily as the two snored softly. Nagihiko was dozing peacefully against his seat, and even Utau, who hadn't said a word for the whole ride, had her head leaning to one side in a relaxed sleeping position. Everyone was still sleeping, the coast was clear. This was the best time to tell them and get it over with, while still making sure no one else could hear, since I didn't know what my situation would be once we got off the bus.

"Okay, I only going to say this once, and I'm going to say it really fast so be sure to catch it!"

"Understood, desu!" Suu complied, paying attention with intensity. I spoke in something even quieter than a whisper, in a voice for only one person to hear.

"The reason I've been acting so weird is because…"

"Yeees…?"

I felt a light blush go run my face as I tried to find the words to say it out loud.

"I - I… um… the truth is," I stammered uncontrollably for about ten seconds before Miki finally stopped me.

"Amu-chan, you haven't stammered that much since elementary school. If you can't say it now, then I might as well just wait and see what you're so excited about when we arrive at the resort. At least then maybe you can calm down."

I looked up to see Miki floating over my head, frowning as expected and her arms crossed yet again. I thought about it really quickly, and I figured that she probably had figured out why I was excited. Wasn't it rather… obvious? There were only two reasons to be excited: One was the fact that I got to spend three days with all my friends at the ski resort, and the other was the fact that Ikuto, someone I hadn't seen in a long time, was going to be there. It really wasn't that hard to figure out, at least for my Guardians anyway.

As for my friends… they had never been let on about the fact that I liked Ikuto, so how would they get that notion? All the times that I'd spent with Ikuto in the past were when it was just the two of us and our Guardians. No one else had been there to witness my reactions, accept my Guardians. It was impossible for anyone else to notice.

"Ehehe, well…" I chuckled nervously under Miki's expectant stare, but before either of us could say anything, I heard Utau stir behind me.

"Amu… what time is it?" She asked drowsily. I twisted in my seat so that I could face her before replying, resting my arms on the top of my seat.

"You've all been sleeping for two hours, so it's about one. We should be there in about thirty minutes, I think."

"Oh, so you were the only one who didn't fall asleep?" She asked, eyes narrowing.

"Yeah, I'm really just not tired today!" I laughed nervously, scratching the back of my head. Why did it have to be Utau who I had to be conversing with?

"You're excited about seeing Ikuto." It wasn't a question. Darn it. Why couldn't it have been a question? Better yet, why didn't I lie and say I'd fallen asleep?

"Yeah, I mean I haven't seen him in five years so it's no surprise. I'm sure everyone else will be happy to see him too!" That sounded consolable enough.

She sighed, closing her eyes before speaking. "Amu. Let me set something straight. You can have your way with Ikuto as much as you want, so long as you don't hog him. You may not realize it, but even though I'm his sister, I've been deprived of him just as much as you, or anyone else who may miss him. _I_ am first priority when it comes to Ikuto, since I'm family." I nodded, and she continued. "But… my view of Ikuto is just as a big brother now. So…" She trailed off for a minute. Same old Utau. I understood what she was saying; that she was no longer going to chase after Ikuto as a boyfriend or anything close to that. I wondered: Was her way of giving me permission to be around him without her being bothered by it? She probably wasn't going to finish that sentence, so I went ahead and took the liberty of ending it for her.

"Okay, Utau. That makes plenty of sense since you're his sister. I understand." She didn't reply. She just turned and resumed looking out the window. I slid back into my place in my seat. When I thought about it, I was really happy that Utau was able to come. With her singing career in almost constant demand, I had been surprised when she hadn't hesitated in coming with us.

After that short conversation, everyone began to stir again. Nagihiko blinked a few times before giving out a small yawn. Yaya stretched out so much that her first smacked Rima in the face, giving her an unpleasant awakening. Their bickering caused Kukai and Tadase to awaken, and the two boys had to constrict Yaya and Rima as they fought amongst each other grumpily. In the end, we all wound up switching seats so the two could stop fighting and just go back to sleep. Nagihiko now sat with Rima, and I sat next to Yaya away from the window in a seat across from Tadase. Utau and Kukai were now in the same seat, Kukai could be heard poking fun at her ramen eating skills every once in awhile. Kukai and Utau had grown quite close since the whole Easter meltdown thing. I always saw them as sort of a perfect-match couple, and I even had a notion that they might have been dating without telling anyone. But I never pressed for answers, knowing I might lose my head in the process.

"Yaya sure hasn't changed much has she?" I sighed, looking over to Tadase who was just as rattled as I was.

"Nope, she hasn't. It's just as in elementary."

"Still, having to switch seats like this is so…"

"Extravagant?"

"Yeah."

"Well, on the bright side we're about to arrive at the summit of the mountain." He turned his head and pointed out the windshield of the bus, revealing the scene that had gone unnoticed to me due to all the commotion. We were driving along the side of the mountain, a rail at the side of the cliff to prevent falling. The road was narrow and covered with a very thin layer in contrast to the mountain beside it, which was coated in a thick, pure blanket of white. Not a single trace of green could be seen in the pine trees that dotted alongside the mountain, and a very soft wind was blowing the still falling snow around the mountain. It was as if we were driving through the mountain of a snow globe. If one looked far enough, they would be able to see the chair lifts that covered the other nearby mountains, each one bringing the people in them to and from the summit.

The road ahead was beginning to expand a bit as we got off the mountain side and approached the summit; we suddenly took a turn into a tunnel that went into the center of the mountain. It was dark, with only a few lights here and there to help you see, but I wasn't prepared for what I saw once we cleared through it.

Once we exited the tunnel, my heart leaped into my throat at the sight of the resort itself. We had arrived at the other side of the mountain that had been hidden from us before as we had made out way up. To imagine it, one could think of an upside-down ice cream come with one side of the center bitten off, leaving only a big indent in it. The resort was surrounded by the mountain, with only one side exposed to the outside world. And on that side, you could see everything. And I mean _everything_. The white trees 2000 feet below, the many roads to take to get up here, and the giant lake at the center of the view at the very bottom. The sky was outstretched in a dark grey blanket, but even though it as a depressing color, it was still breathtaking. I also noticed that the chairlifts started at the side of the mountain and seemed to spiral up toward the very top of the mountain, while on the other side there was a chairlift coming down bringing a load of up to four people with it.

The resort itself was something to be in awe at as well. It was huge, but not extremely tall, as the roof of the indent itself wouldn't allow it. In other words, it wasn't very tall, but it was quite wide. At maximum, I estimated it was probably only about three stories, but each room was probably spread out evenly. It was covered with snow as well, which surprised me since the snow only had one way of coming in. As we drove down from the little hill we were on, I caught a glimpse of a hot spring in the center of the resort before we finally were on level with it all.

"This resort is right under the summit of Seraph Mountain. Well, Amu? What do you think?" Tadase asked me. I turned to him, speechless. When we had been planning on _where_ we wanted to ski, Tadase had told us all to leave it to him because he knew the 'perfect place'. So this was what he meant…

"A-a-amazing!" I shouted in astonishment. It was the only thing I could think to say at the time. Yaya stirred beside me, and once she got her first look out the window she let out a miniature scream equivalent to that of an excited three year old.

"Tadase-kun, when you said 'I know the perfect place,' you weren't kidding! Look, Pepe!" she grabbed her guardian that had been resting in her lap and pushed her face up against the window. "That lake's _huge_!"

"It's stunning…" Even Utau let out a little compliment. Kukai whistled before saying, "Now _that's_ mind-blowing." Rima and Nagihiko sat in their seats quietly; too shocked from the view to utter a word as they gawked out the window.

"I'm glad you all like it!" Tadase remarked happily, a smile of accomplishment on his face.

"From this day onward, Tadase will be our new personal travel agent! All in favor of this statement, say 'I'!!" Kukai proclaimed, and we all gave a hearty "I!" as we thrust out fists into the air in agreement. Tadase blushed, looking down to the floor modestly. "You guys…"

"No, Tadase, Kukai's right! You deserve every bit of praise for surprising us like this!" I insisted, grabbing his hands and smiling at him genuinely.

"Amu-chan…"

"Tadase, how did you find out about this place? I've never heard of it." Nagihiko asked.

"Well, I came here once when I was little and thought it would be a good place to come back too. It sure has changed, though. The ground used to be bare inside the dome, but now it's covered in trees."

As we all continued chatting, the bus turned into its designated parking zone. The bus driver got up and told us the ride was over, then proceeded to help us get all of our luggage out of all the compartments on the outside of the bus. Once we had all of our stuff, Tadase lead us to the front counter where he the receptionist brought us to our reserved rooms. The elevator took two loads of luggage and people at a time, with Utau and I being the last to board. After everyone had gone up and it was our turn, I felt the question that I didn't want to think about pop into my head – where was Ikuto? I hadn't seen him when we arrived, and he was supposed to be here before us. What if he wasn't coming after all…?

"Um, Utau?" I began as I pressed the second floor button in the elevator with my finger.

"What?"

"…never mind." I mumbled; looking down the floor as the elevator brought us up. I couldn't ask. It might make my feelings obvious to the others, so I decided it was best to keep my mouth shut… but at the same time I was _dying_ to know where Ikuto was!

When we finally settled outside our rooms, it was time to decide who stayed with whom. There were a total of four rooms, and we all decided to split up with two rooms per person, with one room being a bedroom with only one person since there were seven of us.

"No, there's no way I'm going to stay a single night in the same room as Nagihiko!" Kukai protested when we suggested the two stay together on one. "Don't think I forgot that time you put that skirt on me. Why can't I just share a room with Tadase or Utau!?"

"Because Tadase and I already decided that Utau and Amu-chi should share one room while Rima gets the one alone!" Yaya explained; a look of irritation on her face.

"Why do I have to be the one who has to be alone? I wanted to be with Amu. Or _someone_. I think Yaya's just trying to isolate me because of what happened earlier on the bus." Rima accused.

"What!? I am not!"

"I bet you are."

Meanwhile, Nagihiko and Kukai were in an argument of their own.

"You think I carry skirts with me all the time or something!? Why would I bring one to the summit with me!?"

"How should I know? Maybe you have some sort of secret skirt fetish that no one knows about..."

"F-fetish? I have no such fixation!"

And soon enough, everyone was arguing about who got what room. Quelling everyone seemed impossible, so I pulled a whistle out of my luggage bag and let it rip away at their ear drums until they all quieted down. All eyes on me, I heaved a great sigh before going on with my explanation.

"Okay, since it's obvious that Rima and Yaya would claw each other throats out, and Kukai and Nagihiko have some sort of skirt issue going on, Rima will share a room with Utau and Tadase and Kukai can share one while Yaya will share the last room with Nagihiko. I'll take the last room alone, Capeesh!?"

"Humph, I'd rather stay in with Kukai. He's more talkative then Rima," Utau said; a frown on her face.

"Fine! Fine! I don't care anymore, so long as you all stop arguing! You're all giving me a headache!" I held out my hand to Tadase, who in turn gave me one of the several rings of keys he had been holding while waiting for everyone else to quiet down. Each one had ring had two sets of keys to one of each room, accept mine of course, which probably only needed one since I was going to be the only one residing in it. I turned away from them and headed for my room down the hallway, with my four guardian characters following me.

"Um, Amu-chan! There's something I needed to tell you!" Tadase called after me as I walked away.

"It can wait until lunch, Tadase. We'll all meet outside the lobby in an hour. You can tell me then."

My room was western styled and very plush. It had its own kitchen, small living room, balcony and one bedroom. The bathroom was nice too, since it had both a shower and bathtub. In the small living room there was a couch with a low end table in front of it, facing a large plasma T.V. The bedroom had queen sized bed pushed into one corner of the room, leaving just enough space to sit in front of the fireplace beside it and perhaps read a book on the floor.

"Wooow, this sure is nice and cozy!" Ran commented as we entered.

"Look at this! The little refrigerator is so cute!" Miki commented as she floated by the kitchen.

"Hmm, that reminds me, what I make for breakfast tomorrow…?" Suu wondered out loud.

"No need to worry Suu, they serve breakfast here." Dia assured her.

"Okay… so long as it tastes good, I suppose."

Whilst those four chatted amongst themselves, I unpacked my luggage and hung my clothes in the closet in the bedroom, and then decided to go ahead and take a shower to help calm myself and unwind a little. After that, I decided it would be best to wear something warm, but casual, since no one was going to ski or snowboard until the next day and we were probably just going to throw snow at each other all day. So I put on a white t-shirt and above it, a red V neck knit sweater that's sleeves were so long only the tips of my fingers could be seen. I then put on a pair of black stockings, and over that, a red skirt that reached wasn't too short, but wasn't too long either. And finally, I put on a black half-sleeved ruffled jacket and some white boots. Wearing a skirt and stockings wouldn't be a big deal for me, since I was quite used to it snowing back at home, and even then I wore skirts in such temperatures.

I checked myself in the mirror once more, giving my pink hair, which had grown to my mid-back over the past five years, a quick brush before leaving the bathroom. With about twenty minutes left until it was time to meet up with everyone again, I realized this was probably something I shouldn't have done, since the moment I left the bathroom and took a seat on the couch I was bombarded with the demands of my guardians.

"Amu! Are you gonna tell us now? Huh? Huh?"

"Please tell us, desu!"

"I'm anxious. Spit it out!"

"Tell us what's on your mind, Amu."

They had me surrounded; and there was no point in trying to avoid the inevitable. So I spilled.

"Alright… I'll tell you." Ran, Miki, Suu, And Dia all took a seat on the end table in front of me, looking up at me with excitement in their eyes. "Go on then!" Ran urged.

"Okay, where should I start…"I thought for a quick second before continuing. Should I even go down the road of explaining everything, or just cut straight to the chase?

"Short or long version?"

"Short!" They all said in unison.

I fumbled my fingers a little as I brought out the courage to mumble out the message. "I…I like Ikuto, I think." I averted my gaze from them after that last part, and silence filled the room.

"…What?!" Ran shouted, standing up all of the sudden in shock. "Where's _that_ coming from!? Ikuto's been gone for five years, I don't see how you could just grow a liking for him while he's been away for so long." Miki and Suu groaned, smacking their foreheads as Dia just blinked once in confusion. "Ikuto? You mean that blue haired boy who was the cause of that whole Easter crisis?" I nodded subtly, remembering that Dia wasn't around at almost any of the times I had been with Ikuto.

"Ran, you're slow!" Miki shouted, Suu nodding in agreement.

"What? How am I slow!?"

"You never noticed Amu's attraction to Ikuto…?"

A light went on in the attic of my head. "Eh? You knew?" Suu looked at me with a dumbfounded expression.

"Of course we knew. It was obvious Miki and I, you and Ran are the only two who didn't notice."

"Ran _is_ the slow one after all…" Miki mumbled under her breath, but it didn't go unheard.

"_Slow_!?"

"I was the only one who didn't notice?!" I exclaimed, not counting Ran in this statement.

"Yep. It's kind of sad, actually. Suu and I noticed it, but we also knew you didn't even notice it yourself. For the last five years he's been gone, we just figured you'd never understand yourself!"

My head dipped a little in disappointment, "Well actually, I noticed it two years after he left, so…"

"That's still a sad pace." Miki commented, smiling a little. "But the fact of the matter is that you've finally noticed!"

"But now all Amu-chan has to do is confess!" Suu chimed in harmonically.

"C-C-C-CONFESS!? I'll do no such thing!" I stammered, shocked at Suu's proposal. Honestly, I'd never really thought about telling Ikuto how I felt. My mind was clouded with so many happy thoughts of him coming back that I didn't think of anything else. But now that Suu had brought that up, I suddenly found myself thinking all the thoughts to that of an infatuated teenage girl – Did I want to confess? If I did, how would I do it? …What if I confessed and he rejected me? And thus _ruining _what could have been a perfectly awesome friendship!? My face was turning red just thinking about it…

"Amu-chan… steam is rising from your ears…"

"FUWAH!" I jumped up from the couch, picking up two throw pillows and thrusting them onto either side of my head.

"She was joking."

"…Oh." I set the pillows back down and sat on the couch.

"Anyway," Dia persisted, "What do you mean you'll do no such thing? What's the point of liking a person if you never tell them? In the end, you'll only suffer from keeping it bottled up."

"Well, I guess I kind of overreacted but, I don't want to tell him yet. I want to at least _try_ and find out if he likes me before I say anything. And plus, he's only just arrived in Japan today, so I wouldn't want to overwhelm him…"

"Aw, that's our Amu, always thinking of others! Or, at least most of the time." Ran cheered happily, dancing around the table.

"S-shut up ran!" I stopped my protest when I heard the door of the room buckle a little. There was a _shic_ noise before I heard the door open, and the room became really quiet. Could it be Tadase? No, he didn't have keys to my room, and even if he did, he would have knocked first! But it could also be room service… but they normally only came in during the morning hours. I had only checked in thirty minutes ago, so it couldn't be that either!

I quickly, but silently, stood up and dashed in the direction of the bedroom, Ran, Miki, Suu, and Dia following me and hiding under the bed while I went into the closet and shut the door lightly. There was the sound of feet softly scuttling across the floor, and then a _plop_ noise coming from the direction of the living room. There was a zipping sound, and then the foot steps continued. Pausing every once in awhile. And with every continuation after a pause, the foot steps slowly made their way closer and closer to the bedroom… When I heard the foot steps finally stop near at the doorway of the bedroom, my heart began to pound ferociously, and with the blood pumping through my veins at an alarming rate, I ducked my head in my legs, covering my head with my hands.

_Tip…_

_Tap…_

_Step…_

_Step…_

Whoever was in here was approaching, and I had no clue what to do. Was it a burglar? Or maybe a Kidnapper? Or even worse, some sort of rapist!? Or maybe it was just some weird fan of Utau's that somehow followed us here and knew I was connected to her. Okay, so that last one was a little out there, but it was possible! The person stopped when they reached the closet door, and I heard the door knob turn. I closed my eyes to brace for whatever would happen… and then I heard a voice say my name.

"…_Amu_?"

My heart stopped. How did this pursuer know my name!? Was I being stalked!? I opened my eyes and lifted my head a little to see who was addressing me. When I saw who it was, I felt all the feelings of relief, happiness, and stupidity all come crashing down on me at the same time.

"…_Ikuto_!?"

* * *

_**Alex's notes:** OH yeah. Twelve pages of juicy juiciness, with 00.02% of amuto included! (Or 35 pages, depending on how you want to count it.) Even thought it had little amutoness, it was still fun to write. *-*_

_Ah, but what an unhealthy dose that must have been you all. It was for me too. But fear not! The next chapter should be released soon, &I promise it gets better from here. x]_


	2. Sleeping faces and fireplaces

_**Alex's notes:** Ah yes. In this chapter, we will totally be loaded with Amuto goodies. *-* I'm updating quickly because I actually finished this chapter before I even released the first one, I was just double-checking me spelling and grammar and such before I released it. (Since my little sister won't do it for me 'cause she's so lazy. It's sad, because she's sooo good at it! :[ ) So I might have missed a few mistakes. Apologies!_

_I got so annoyed when I was writing this because my mouse randomly ran out of battery power, and I was out of fresh batteries. D: I was forced to use my tablet's mouse, which I don't like using because it has an annoying double-click that I could never figure out how to fix, so it kept highlighting random sentences when I only clicked once…_

_And another thing! I need to update my Microsoft Word program or something? It's telling me to put stupid things like "That am" instead of "That's"! D: "That am!?" What is this world coming too!? –Can't think of when to use 'than am' in a sentence.- …_

_But anyway…_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Shugo Chara!  


* * *

**_

_When the snow brought you back_

Chapter 2: Sleeping faces and fireplaces.

Silence crept between the two of us as we simply stared at each other. He stood in front of me with a shirt in one hand, and the other still on the door knob. Ikuto hadn't changed very much. His hair was slightly longer, but was still the shaggy blue that I remembered, and his face had matured only a bit. The most notable difference was how tall he had gotten, or was it just from the fact that I was sitting on the floor staring up at him? He was wearing a plain black shirt, denim jean jacket, and a pair of jeans with a belt pattern on them. And he still had that cross necklace too. How I wished I could just jump up and hug him again, like I did that one time when I was a kid. But I restrained myself.

A few seconds passed before he finally asked me – "Amu… why are you hiding in a closet?"

It took me a moment to understand what he was saying to me. The whole world had begun to feel dream-like in a way, and I was having trouble in processing the fact that he was here. Ikuto was _here_. He was _here_ and speaking to _me_. Right then. At that moment. This was no hallucination, because I didn't remember falling asleep. I wasn't asleep, was I? I slapped my face lightly on either side of my face.

Ikuto blinked once and frowned a little, a worried expression on his face as he leaned toward me. "…Amu?" I squealed a little on the inside. He said my name! It really was Ikuto!

"Ikuto!" I managed to chirp out, attempting to stand up too quickly and thus falling back on my butt. The second time around, I got up more carefully, being sure to keep my balance.

I looked up at Ikuto again, who was now giving me a '_what in gods name is wrong with this girl?_' look. Nope. I was right. He really _was_ taller now.

"So… want to explain to me why you were hiding in a closet?"

"Heh?" I snapped back to reality. "O-oh! You startled me, that's all… I thought I was the only one with keys to this room, so I kinda flipped out… how did you get in here?"

"Tadase gave me a key a few minutes ago…" he said, tossing the shirt in his hand onto the bed behind him. " I got here a little late. My flight was delayed. I probably would have been able to ride on the bus with you guys if it hadn't been."

"What!? No way!" Stupid plane! If it hadn't been delayed, I would have been able to see Ikuto sooner! And I wouldn't have had to worry about the possibility of him now coming. Stupid plane. Stupid, stupid, stupid… ew, I was starting to feel like an infatuated fan girl or something. But, still.

"Ah, you sound disappointed," Ikuto inquired, his trademark grin coming across his face.

"Ah? – I'm not – What? _No_!" I stammered in denial, suddenly aware that that aspect of Ikuto – his teasing side – seemed to not have changed. He chuckled a little before going to normal conversing. Well, normal for him anyway.

"Your hair got longer," he observed, pulling a small lock of hair that was resting on my shoulder and examining it. I quickly snatched it away and turned around.

"J-just a little…"

"Are you coming, or are you going to talk to yourself in that closet?" I realized that I'd never left the closet, and hastily turned around and darted out the bedroom door. Ikuto was already in the living room, feet planted firmly on the carpet, his arm resting on one leg as he sat on the couch, holding up his head in his palm as he smirked at me.

"Amu nya!" I turned to see Yoru floating toward me excitingly, that same gleam of mischievousness I remembered never having left his eyes.

"Yoru!"

"Where's everyone?" By that, I assumed he meant Ran, Miki and the others. Wow. No 'How have you been Amu?', just a blunt question not pertaining to me. I felt so loved. I pointed in the direction of the bedroom and he hovered over into the room, I eventually heard him screech "What the heck are you guys doing under the bed, nya!?" before a surge of giggles erupted from the room. Taking a deep breath, I turned and sat down on the couch next to Ikuto, who held a bored expression as he waited.

"So… what was America like?"

He frowned for the second time that day, processing an answer before he replied "It was annoying. People drive on the other side of the road, and their burgers are just… massive."

"Something nice about it."

"Oh," he paused as though he had to think hard about that one, was America really that bad? "The Super Wal-Mart's. That's about it."

I scowled at him. "What sort of description is that!?"

He shrugged. "Ask a simple question, get a simple answer."

"B-but I was expecting an epic story!"

"Well then, I guess you shouldn't have gotten your hopes up, because America isn't that fascinating. Accept for the Super Wal-Mart's."

"Fine then, if you don't have anything good to say about it then what was so bad about it?"

He sat up straight and leaned toward me, looking at me intently before whispering: "For starters… you weren't there."

"C-c-c-cut it out!" I stammered; scooting further down the couch as my face started that old transformation from its natural peach to a light pink, which would soon become a beat red. I was so nervous seeing him for the first time, and I hated it. But then again, when I thought about it, I acted the same way I did when I was in elementary, so Ikuto probably couldn't tell how nervous I was. I wondered: In Ikuto's eyes, was I still just a little kid? He was older than me than most of my other friends… but now, it shouldn't matter, right? I mean, I was eighteen, and this was no longer elementary school. Still, it was impossible to know if he thought the same way I did.

He covered his mouth, trying to hold in a laugh. "See? In America, there was no one who was nearly as fun and easy to tease."

I crossed my arms and pouted a little, "S-shut up Ikuto…"

He continued smirking and letting a few chuckles escape here and there before a question of extreme importance dawned on me. "Ikuto, have you spoken too Utau yet?"

"Yeah,"

"When?"

"I did on the phone this morning."

"Ikuto!"

"What?"

"She's gonna kill me if she finds out I saw you before her!"

He didn't seem bothered by this, "Come to think of it, she would huh…" he relaxed his hands behind his head and leaned up against the couch, grinning. " Guess you'll just have to die then, now won't you?"

"T-that's cruel…" I whined, "Even after what she told me on the way here…"

"Oh? And what was that?"

"Um! That was…" My reply was luckily interrupted by a knock on the door. As I got up to see who was there, I soon discovered that it wasn't as lucky as I'd hoped, because it was Utau with a look of extreme impatience on her face. She had on a really warm looking brown and pink plaid fluffy winter coat, pink earmuffs, and sorrel pants.

"We're leaving. Now."

"Huh? Where?"

"We've been waiting for you for the past ten minutes! Everyone was supposed to meet outside the lobby an hour after we all got settled in, _remember_!?"

"Oh!" I said in realization, "Sorry, Utau… Something just popped up and I -"

"Whatever it was couldn't have been more important than this, because I'm sick of waiting outside in the cold! Do you have any idea how cold it gets around here if you just stand around and don't move!?" I shook my head, feeling a little guilty. Utau was about to continue, but stopped herself abruptly when I saw a shadow loom overhead, her amethyst eyes wide, her mouth agape. _'Oh dear God,' _I thought as I felt a presence appear behind me,_ 'I'm dead! Utau's gonna kill me! Why couldn't Ikuto just stay out of sight!?'_

"IKUTOOOOO!" Utau shoved me aside and leaped at Ikuto like a jaguar hunting a deer. I landed on the hard tile of the entry way face-first, letting out a painful grunt that went unheard to both the predator and its prey.

"Ikuto! Ikuto! Ikuto! I missed you! Why didn't you come see me first!? I haven't seen you in so long; I thought you understood how much I've missed you! And why are you so late!?"

"My flight was delayed." I heard Ikuto say calmly as I crawled away to the hallway, hoping to escape Utau before she realized I saw Ikuto before she did. I should let them have their moment alone; maybe Utau would forgive me that way…

"_AMU_…" Wish not granted. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Um…" I stood up and made a hasty exit out the room, leaving Ikuto and Utau. "Meet you two outside!" I could still hear Utau calling after me, but I kept running toward the elevator to escape her wrath. I'd managed to avoid it for five years, and I didn't want to start going down that road again. Clicking the lobby button, I relaxed against the back of the elevator and sighed. Even though Utau was going to be angry at me, I couldn't help but feel happy that I got to see Ikuto. Today would mark the day of his return… I hoped it would be a permanent return, because waiting five whole years for someone you really like too return took a lot out of a person. I felt a little envious of Utau though, she was probably the only person on the planet who could hug Ikuto like that and get away with it. If _I_ did that, Ikuto would never let me live it down. _"Perverted kid,"_ is what he'd probably say…

The elevator doors opened and I stepped out, making a steady pace toward the lobby exit. Through the glass of its doors, I saw Tadase, Kukai, Rima, Nagihiko, and Yaya all waiting for Utau and I to return. The sky was clear now, so it wasn't snowing, but the sun made the previously fallen snow shimmer in its light.

"Amu-chi, where's Utau? We sent her to go get you, but now she's the one missing!" Yaya asked as I exited the building.

"One word: Ikuto." I replied simply, shrugging a little.

"Well, that explains a lot. We might as well leave without her then!" She huffed.

"That's actually what I wanted to tell you earlier Amu," Tadase spoke up, "I had an extra key to your room for Ikuto, I didn't get the chance to tell you that whoever got the room alone would eventually be sharing with him… sorry about that."

"It's okay Tadase!" I reassured him, shaking my head, "I shouldn't have been so impatient earlier, it's my fault you didn't get the chance to tell me."

"Alright, alright!" Kukai interrupted, "Enough of this idle chit-chat! I'm ready to throw some snow in all your faces!" He then scampered off in some random direction, probably to build an 'ultimate fortress' of some sort that's sole purpose would probably be to scare the crap out of me when I came along. _Whatever happened too "We should team up when we have a snowball fight", Kukai…? _I wondered.

"To war!" Nagihiko shouted, which was a bit weird since he normally didn't get psyched about things like this. He was probably seeking revenge for that skirt comment Kukai had made an hour earlier. He grabbed a detached Rima's wrist and sped after Kukai, the blond looked a little less than delighted, or in the mood for that matter. But I was sure she'd warm up to the idea, she normally did when she was with Nagihiko regardless.

"Are you coming, Amu-chi?" Yaya asked when I didn't move once she and Tadase had started a slow pace after the others.

"W-well…" I needed to think up a quick excuse to ditch the snowball fight, "I want to see more of the resort, so why don't you two just go on without me? I'll catch up later, and if I see Utau I'll tell her where you all went." They nodded in agreement, blissfully unaware of my true intentions. The moment I saw Utau, I was going to tell her Kukai ran off without her, which would probably make her fumed enough to run after him. Then I'd be able to talk to Ikuto without her glare… that is, if she didn't drag him along with her.

Once I was back in the lobby, I sat in one of its seats casually for a full twenty minutes before finally giving up. Ikuto and Utau weren't coming. So I decided – why not do something productive? Since no one was going to ski or snowboard until tomorrow and I still didn't have my equipment, I might as well rent it so I'd be ready tomorrow. But after walking halfway down a hallway toward the shop, I remembered – I left my purse in my room! Goody. I halfheartedly turned back around and went up the elevator, frowning the whole way up. I was ruining my trip by my own doing! Since Ikuto came back but was with Utau, most of my hyper excitement level had dropped down to its normal point, perhaps even lower. Now, I felt as though I didn't have the energy to have a snowball fight, probably because I didn't take a nap on the bus like everyone else. During both plane rides, I was far too fidgety to relax, and on the boat and bus rides I was so relived and happy to be off the planes that I couldn't sit still. But now, it would seem that waking up so early and staying awake was starting to take its toll on me…

_*Ping*_

The elevator opened, and I strolled down the hall coolly toward my room. Once again, my guardians (and Yoru) bombarded me with questions for the second time that day.

"You left us! Where did you go!?" Ran demanded as I headed to the side of the couch I'd left my bag at.

"No where in particular, just to escape Utau before she caught me."

"Oh… I see. That was probably a good idea then."

"Where'd Ikuto go, nya?!" Yoru questioned, mewling like some lost kitten looking for its mom.

"No clue, haven't seen him." I replied to him curtly, picking up my bag and heading back for the door.

"Amu-chan…" Dia began as she followed me, "What's wrong?"

Could it be the fact that Utau is preventing me from seeing Ikuto, even though I have just a much right to see him as anyone else does? Could it be the fact that Utau's jealousy get's on my last nerves, and she should just accept the fact that she shouldn't hog him all the time? Noooo, I'm just grumpy from lack of sleep. Right? Right…? … Okay, so I just had a case of jealousy. I'd overcome it, eventually. Taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm myself a bit, I forced myself to smile at my guardian. She had done nothing wrong, so I shouldn't snap at her. She was only trying to help.

"Nothing's wrong, Dia! No need to worry. I'll be right back, I'm just going to go rent a board and I'll be back in a flash!"

"Okay, Amu-chan…" she mumbled warily as I exited the room again. Geez, Dia was waaay too perceptive sometimes. She was always one of the first to notice when I wasn't myself. But then, that also made her the easiest to talk too.

Once I reached the lobby and arrived at the rental store down the hall, I proceeded in picking out a snowboard for the next day. For a rental store; it had a pretty nice selection when it came to patterns on the board. I eventually came across a board that had two large purple sakuras and a simple orange and pink swirl background – it wasn't very original looking, quite plain actually, but I still liked it. I went to the register and asked the clerk there to help me take the board down from the rack, seeing as I was too short to reach it.

But I soon wished I hadn't. The clerk was very nice – a little _too_ nice for my liking. While he rung it up for me, he kept asking me questions. At first, they were just normal questions like 'So, where're you from?' but soon progressed too, 'Just how old are you?' and even a bold, personal question like, 'are you single?' Ew. The creepy clerk was starting to get under my skin. He handed me my new snowboard as I was about to answer him in a back-off kind of tone, but a new voice entered our conversation unexpectedly and replied for me –

"No, she's with me. If you have any other questions, I'd be more than _happy_ to answer them for you."

I turned around with the board under one arm to see none other than Ikuto standing behind me, and glaring amethyst daggers at the stores clerk. Without waiting for the shocked clerks reply, Ikuto grabbed my wrist and escorted me out the store. Still in earshot of the clerk, he sighed loudly.

"Jeez, Amu, can't you tell when someone's hitting on you?"

I blushed a little, tightening my grip on the board. "W-well I wasn't that oblivious, I would have been fine even if you hadn't shown up." That wasn't really true, I was glad he'd showed up. It was more convenient. But I'd never admit to that.

"Yes, that's _exactly_ why you answered _all_ of his questions in such a nice tone, Amu. After all, that's the best way to tell a guy you're not interested."

"Hey! I was giving him the benefit of the doubt! I thought he was only curious until those last few questions!"

Ikuto put on a serious expression as we cleared through the hallway and entered the elevator, "Amu, aren't you eighteen or something by now? I shouldn't have to tell you not to give guys you don't know the 'benefit of the doubt.'" He practically spat the phrase. What; was he upset or something?

"Fine, fine! I won't if that'll make you stop nagging me. Sheesh, you sound like my dad…"

He let a small chuckle escape from his mouth. "Is he still like that?"

"Hm… not as much as he used too. I think he's realized I can't stay his little girl forever. But he still has his episodes from time to time. '_Ami, never grow up!_' he always says to my sister… it get's old, honestly, but at least he's toning it down with _me_."

"That's good. He'll need too."

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

"Hmm, what _does_ it mean?"

"Weirdo…" I mumbled as I stepped into my resort room. I leaned the board up against wall where it could go undisturbed and set my bag on the kitchen counter. Dia, Ran, Miki, Suu, and Yoru were all chattering quietly with one another, barely noticing me as I passed by them and opened the balcony door. Stepping out onto its porch, I looked out and realized it had a viewpoint of the whole resort, and the scene below the mountain. The room was on the third floor in the back of the resort facing the scenery, and I had a nice view of the warm hot springs below.

It was only the unisex part of the hot spring, the area which required anyone entering to only need a bathing suit of some sort, no matter the gender. But it also had two other hot springs that were completely hidden and were separated between boys and girls, which was also nice. Especially since I didn't bring a bathing suit because I had no clue there were hot springs here, so I wouldn't be able to go into the unisex one anyway.

"Maybe I should take a dip later…" I sighed, setting my head in my palm as my arm rested on the rail of the balcony. There was a soft breeze in the mountain air; it caressed my face as my hair flopped around slightly against the wind.

"Me too," Ikuto agreed, coming up behind me and startling me.

"I-I-Ikuto!?" I shouted, jolting up and pointing an accusing finger at him, "What are you doing in my apartment!?"

He stared at me for a moment. "Amu… what part of 'Tadase gave me the keys', don't you understand? Did you forget already?"

"Ah…" Oh, right. That meant we'd be sharing the room… wait, what?

"Just like old times?" He inquired, smirking his trademark smirk. I half smiled back at him with a sarcastic look, _'just like old times'_?! If he was referring to when he stayed over at my house for three days, then he was getting the wrong idea, because this was going to be completely different!

"Yeah," I said in a snarky fashion, "Accept the only difference this time around is that now you have two choices. You can sleep on the floor, _or_ you can sleep on the couch!"

"Why do I have to sleep on the couch?!"

"Because I already called the bed, since there's only one."

"Then I guess we'll be sharing a bed, there's no way I'm going to sleep on a cold and lonely couch. I don't want a repeat of last time! I almost froze to death," he complained, his gaze suddenly shifting intently to me. I quickly turned my head before replying, knowing that if I stared back he'd see my face reddening.

"W-whatever."

"Is that a yes?"

"No, it's a whatever!"

"So it _is_ a yes."

"Ugh!" There he went again, teasing me like that. How was it that he could always twist what I said!? It was bothersome, and yet I knew I should have been used to it by now. Teasing people was Ikuto's specialty, after all. But he always easily got too me, why couldn't I ever think up a good come back?

I spun to face him, pouting in a very un-ladylike fashion, only to find he still held the same expression he had before. An intense amethyst stare that could probably make any girl momentarily feeble, and the fact that the wind was pushing his hair around making him look even more alluring wasn't helping either. I felt my mind go numb as I was staring, it was a mesmerizing feeling to like that of being hypnotized. At least, that's what I thought being hypnotized would feel like, not that I ever had been before. I was being sucked into a vortex of uncontrollable staring… and then, he grinned.

Crap.

He'd been watching me watch him. Stupid Amu! Why couldn't I do that some other time, like when he _wasn't_ watching you!? Do you _want _him to tease you even more!?

Oh well, it was too late for that anyway.

"Amu, I know you can't help it but, it's not polite to stare."

"_Well maybe I don't want to be a polite person…"_

"What was that?" Wait, did I just say that out loud? I meant to think that! So I said the first thing that came to mind.

"I said, um, maybe I'm not an upright urchin!" I huffed, crossing my arms and closing my eyes, turning my head away a little to give myself a snooty appearance. But when I thought about it, that wasn't a very good thing to say either, because I was practically saying the same thing.

"That's not what you said."

"Y-yes it was." Darn it, I stuttered.

"Lies, Amu." He taunted harmonically.

"T-that's the truth!" Again with the stuttering! It was a dead giveaway to any blushing!

"Quit the 'cool and spicy' act already; you should know by now that I can see right through it. I thought you would have dropped it by now…" My eyes shot open the moment I felt Ikuto suddenly embrace me from behind, pulling me into him and resting his head lightly on my shoulder. My old instincts kicked in, and I struggled for a few seconds under his iron grip, but soon gave up, knowing it was impossible to escape. Besides, was escaping really what I wanted?

"You never change, Amu. Still as spazzy as ever. And you're still just as warm as a hot water bottle…"

"Ikuto…" I grumbled angrily, but honestly, I was really happy.

My heart beat quickened, and the blood rushed too my face. I felt his breath rolling down my shoulder and neck. A comfortable silence came over us; the only thing heard was the quiet laughter of our Guardians in the small living room.

We stayed like that for just a moment, staring out from the balcony at everything happening below, letting everything sink in. Kukai and Utau throwing snowballs at Rima and Nagihiko. Tadase and Yaya desperately attempting to escape their line of fire. A family slashing in the hot springs below, the mother and father lifting up their youngest child on both sides, hand in hand, up and down in the water. And I, finally together with Ikuto again after five years. It was peaceful. And even though he didn't know how I felt for him, I still felt happy, just to be like this.

"H-hey, Ikuto…" I murmured, breaking the silence.

"Yes?"

"Will you be staying in Japan again?" I asked. I wondered if the hope in that question was portrayed in my voice.

"Easters completely over now; I have no reason to return to America. So yes, I'm returning to Japan for good." I remained silent, keeping the same level of calm (Which wasn't a very high level as it was) as I had before on the outside, but on the inside, I was doing back flips. Finally, Ikuto was making a permanent return to Japan. At that moment, I think I reached a new level of elation.

"Amu?" He asked after I hadn't said anything.

"Y-you know!" I piped up suddenly, taking a small plunge in my impulsive decision to be more honest with Ikuto. "I-I'm happy you're coming back, Ikuto. I um… I missed you."

"Hmmm, you missed me?" He ventured mischievously, and even though I couldn't see his face, I could tell he had some sort of smug look on his face right about now.

"M-m-maybe, just a little…" I admitted, feeling as though my heart was going to burst. His hold on me tightened a little, and for a second, I could have sworn my heart skipped a beat. "I missed you too, Amu." He whispered before he finally released his grip on, seeming to sense what was about to happen next.

"AMU-CHAN!" Ran squealed suddenly from the living room, killing the moment. I turned and peered through the open sliding glass balcony door to see the pink little guardian hopping up and down on the couch trying to get my attention.

"What is it, Ran?"

"We're bored! Take us too the hot springs, pleeeeease!" She pleaded; the other guardians behind her sitting calmly but with pleading expressions as well.

"R…right now?"

They nodded.

"Hmmm…" I padded passed Ikuto, motioning for him to come inside before I closed and locked the balcony door and took a look at the clock. We had arrived around 12:00PM, and it was now 2:30. It still seemed a bit too early to go into the springs.

"How about we just join everyone in the snowball fight instead? It's a bit too early to go into the hot springs, at least for me anyway. Besides, their all probably tired so it'll be really easy to get them!"

"O-KAY!" Ran yelled in approval, floating up from the couch and toward the door.

"Sounds good to me," Yoru agreed, getting up as well. The others got up too and followed Ran and Yoru. As I did too, Ikuto stopped me and grabbed my wrist.

"Wait, I've got an idea…" He said impishly, a mischievous glint equal to Yoru's in his eyes.

***

Ikutos plan would have probably turned out pretty well, if I hadn't made that teensy mistake. We had snuck out of the lobby and around our party of snow-fighting friends quietly in the trees behind. As they fought, we built ourselves a small fort and began to make some snowballs. Then, all we had to do was wait until they had all tired each other out until we fired.

After we'd made about two piles of snowballs, I decided it was time to provoke the enemy. I stood up and quietly walked around our fort, heading towards the others.

"Amu, where are you going?"

"To provoke the enemy!"

"But we're not –"

"Don't worry; I know exactly what to do!" And with that, I ran off in their direction.

Yaya were laying on the ground, panting with exhaustion while Kukai and Utau, who were also tired, began on their next batch of snowballs. Rima and Nagihiko, however, were already prepared for when the others were ready to fire, watching both opposing teams with hawk eyes. They were all quite surprised too see me when I randomly walked out of the trees.

"Amu! There you are!" Kukai greeted as Utau said nothing, she was too caught up in making snowballs to notice anything. "Come over here, quickly! You must be on our team so that -"

"FOR NARNIA!" I shouted before throwing a snowball in his face. He was stunned for a second, so I took the opportunity to throw one at Yaya as well before dashing back off to where Ikuto and the Guardians were supposed to be making more snowballs. I jumped over the shield of snow we had built together before and nestling beside Ikuto again.

"Job completed! I got Kukai so good, he'll be sure to come to seek revenge." I said reassuringly, my smile beaming with pride.

"You attacked too early. How do you expect me to make enough snowballs in that small amount of time?" He said flatly, spoiling my moment of satisfaction with myself.

"What do you mean? I thought two piles of snowballs would be enough!"

"Ah, but that's where your wrong." Ikuto pointed out, picking up one of the snowballs and lightly chucking it in my face.

"Hey! What was that for!?"

"Two piles aren't enough." He explained, ignoring my question. "It's two against six now; and we've got no chance of winning if we're not stocked up enough. We have to fire consecutively if we want any hopes of winning…"

"Eh heh… I guess I just got a little over-excited." I admitted, rubbing the snow off my face.

He patted my head, "There, there, even a perverted kid like you is allowed to make mistakes once in awhile."

My face flushed at his touch, but I tried my best to ignore it. "I am not a kid! Or perverted! And besides, I think I provoked Kukai and Yaya enough, so get back to snowball making before they arm their troops and come to ambush us!"

"I dunno, with a corny battle cry like 'For Narnia' I kinda doubt he'd see us as a threat…" He said, scraping some more snow together.

"Well, would you want me to say? 'Mi gato se está quemando?'" **(1)**

He laughed at this – which was weird because Ikuto almost never laughed. Chuckled, maybe, but not laughed. He sure had changed a lot. He seemed happier now that he was rid of Easter, and even though he was twenty two, still agreed to have a snow ball fight with us. You never really saw adults, let alone young adults, playing this game, so it was fun having Ikuto to play with. Then again, even though Ikuto was older, he could probably still pass as a nineteen year old or so, despite his height. Maybe he was trying to make up for the childhood he'd lost?

"Referring to me in that sentence?" He asked mischievously, eying me with his amethyst stare. My cheeks reddened at that comment.

"N-no way! Why would I do something like that!?" I protested, even though for me that might have been true without my realizing it. And even though I didn't like it, his question made sense. He wasn't just some kid, he was, whether or not I wanted to admit it, a sexy _cat_-like guy. I'd never say that out loud though…

He shrugged, still grinning. "It's easy to tell when talking too you, Amu."

"Oh, just shut up Ikuto. Here they come. Attack!"

Ikuto just smirked rather evilly as his cat ears and tail popped out, I did a character change with Ran and the sound of foot steps could be heard rushing toward our base. We both picked up a snowball from the pile and stood up, ready to chuck as many snowballs as possible at the opposing party. The first snowball hit Tadase, who had been in the front of the others as they ran toward us. Our guardians let out a surprise attack from above, dropping a few snowballs onto the heads of Rima and Nagihiko. But then, our fate was decided the moment they were hit.

All three teams ganged up on us, throwing countless snowballs at us, with Rima and Nagihiko leading the attack.

***

Ikuto and I lost. Rima and Nagihiko were surprisingly diligent in their onslaughts. But the whole thing was worth it. After about fifteen more minutes of war, we all stopped to take a rest and take in our surroundings. We spent about forty more minutes doing various things like building snowmen. (And this time, Miki gave it a much more friendly face!)

We also just wandered around the area chatting and whatnot, Ikuto staying calm and collected while Utau never mentioned what happened earlier, so I assumed she was either over it or was never bothered by it in the first place.

The day went by quickly as we all just had fun hanging out. During the day I'd tried my best to restrain myself from talking with Ikuto too much to keep people from suspecting me, and it seemed to be working because no one, specifically Nagihiko, was making comments on any 'weird' behavior, even though it was really difficult not to behave 'oddly' around him. I had to be careful around the people I liked, because I knew it would easily be made obvious to the others if I let it. Friends can read you like an open book if you're not careful.

"Amu-chi," Yaya called to me once we entered the lobby together around seven after everyone all had dinner together. "I'm ready for a warm bath. Up for the springs?"

"Sure," I agreed, following her to the changing area. When we arrived, we discovered that Utau and Rima were already there and changed into towels, waiting for us.

"Rima, you and Nagihiko were brutal today..." Yaya commented after we'd all gotten situated in the hot spring. It was nice finally being able to sit down today and soak in something warm after running around in the cold all day.

"He had been planning to take action against Kukai so we were quite prepared." She shrugged, turning to me. "And it was much better than Amu and Ikuto's idea of a 'sneak attack.' Seriously, Amu, 'For Narnia'? What were you thinking?"

"H-hey! It was the first thing that popped into my head okay!?" I said in my defense.

"If that's the first battle cry that pops into your head, you have issues."

"Never mind that," Yaya said, "Wanna know what I noticed? You and Ikuto seemed pretty chummy today."

"Not really…" I denied, folding my legs in and wrapping my arms around them as I sunk into the water a bit before anyone could notice I was blushing.

"Don't even try Amu; we saw him hug you on the balcony. Your face was just about as red as a tomato." Utau said calmly, not seeming bothered by it.

"W-what!?" I shouted, surprised that they noticed me from that distance.

"Lucky for you, we were the only ones who saw. The boys were too wrapped up in the game to even notice that we could see our rooms for there!" Rima reassured.

"So _that's_ why you skipped out on the snowball war at first…" Yaya said quizzically, grinning a bit.

"I-It wasn't!"

Rima ignored my statement, knowing it was a lie, "So, do you like him?" She asked bluntly.

"Yeah, she does, 'cause she told us earlier," Ran said, floating passed us in the water on her back with a very passive expression on her face.

"RAN!" I grabbed her and shook her in my grip, "Why would you say something like that!?"

"You would have just denied it anyway!" She chocked out.

"Ah~, So it's true then?" Yaya asked, her grin still in place.

A few seconds of silence fell upon us before I let out a quiet, "…yeah." dropping Ran back in the water. She wasted no time swimming back to the other Guardian Characters, where she knew she had less of a chance to get strangled for blurting out things.

"I knew it." Utau riposted, smirking at me. "Don't think I can't tell who's a fan girl of Ikuto's and who's not. I'm his sister, after all."

"I'm not a fan girl!" I countered, the previous blush on my face being suppressed with a frown.

"Suuuure…"

"MOREOVER." Yaya interrupted, splashing the water with a flat hand as if she were hitting a table to call too attention, which was probably a good thing since we would have just continued arguing anyway, "Have you told him yet?"

"No. And I don't plan too." I said bluntly, tucking my head between my knees and chest, hiding my face again.

"But, Amu! You have too, or else you'll suffer from keeping it bottled up!" Rima protested.

"That's exactly what I told her…" I heard Dia mumble in disappointment.

Utau sighed. "If you're worried about me getting upset, I won't. I don't have that brother complex anymore, so stop worrying."

"That's not it."

"Then what _is_ it, Amu?" she asked in a serious tone.

"I just feel it's a little early," I answered, not looking up, "He just got back from America and I say anything too early because it might be weird since I haven't seen him in five years."

"Is that all you're worried about?"

I nodded.

"Amu, Amu, Amu…" She murmured disappointingly, "You're slow."

I lifted my head, "How am I _slow_!?" I barked, but my three friends just smiled at me.

"You just are," They all said in unison.

"Whatever!"

"Aren't there any _other_ reasons?"

I was quiet again for a second, and I actually thought about the question. Were there any other reasons I had to not tell him? The reasons I had now seemed logical enough for me, at least for now. But then…

"I guess you could say, that being around him is just enough for me. Anything else would be… more than a privilege."

My three friends didn't have anything negative to say about that, and I guess to them I seemed like a lost cause, so they let the subject drop for the time being. "Come on you guys, we'd better get out before we turn into prunes." Rima suggested. We all agreed, and went back to the changing room, once finished, we all headed back too our rooms. Along the way, they, especially Utau, didn't spare me any sympathy and continued taunting me playfully about how slow I was. I just didn't get it! How was I slow!? What was I slow about!? They refused to tell me why, so how was I expected to know!?

"Stupid Utau. Stupid Yaya…" I murmured as I put the card key into the door to my room, my Guardians silent behind me.

"Stupid Rima. I don't get how I'm so slow…" I stomped in and slammed the door behind me.

"Slow about what?"

"I don't even know!" I snapped before realizing that I was speaking to Ikuto. I blinked. Oops.

"Oooh, someone's testy tonight." He mocked as he stood by the kitchen counter, water bottle in hand. He was wearing a simple white t-shirt and blue pajama bottoms, and let's not forget that smirk of his. I would have blushed at his appearance any other time, but right now, I let my anger stifle my face's urge to redden.

"Pft," I ignored him and walked into the bedroom, closing then locking the door behind me to change into my PJ's as well. Comfortable simple russet shorts, and a simple burgundy tank top. I unlocked the door but didn't bother opening it, instead I pulled the large blanket off the bed and shrouded it around my shoulders, turning on the fireplace that was next to the bed and getting comfortable in the cold ice-box of a room as I started to think.

I wonder, what did they mean by slow? For some reason it was really bothering me. I mean, in all honesty at that moment I was happy just to be with Ikuto. I didn't need to be dating him or anything to be happy. At least, not right now anyway.

There was always the possibility of future competition. If that ever happened, then I might be forced to confess, and it wasn't like that had an unlikely chance of happening. Ikuto was like a magnet, attracting people with his good looks, mischievous personality, and that smile of his which was something I didn't have a name for yet. And in this generation, everyone was attracted to abnormal hair colors, blue was no exception.

The more I thought about this, the more complicated it became. Would it be okay for me to like him without telling him, or would it really cause me problems? What if I waited too long and someone came around to snatch him from me? If that ever happened, I would have no one else to blame but myself. And yet…

"I'll never get this," I muttered to myself frustratingly, curling up into a ball as I sat up and faced the fireplace.

"Never get what?" Ikuto suddenly dropped beside me, his head hanging off one side of the bed.

"What the heck Ikuto!?" I shouted, jerking away a little in surprise.

"What?"

"You just randomly came up beside me like that, I didn't even notice you come in here!"

"Well you were staring off into space like you were on another planet or something, so it's no wonder you didn't." He quietly slid off the bed next to me in front of the fire place, and we sat there for a few minutes, saying nothing. There sure was a lot of those silent moments between us today…

"Oi."

"What?"

"I'm cold."

"How can you be cold when you're in front of a fire place!?"

"You're hogging the blanket…"

"So?!"

Without another word, he snatched the blanket right off my back and pulled me into his lap, then covering us both with the blanket. He rested his head atop mine, pulling me into his chest and wrapping his arms around me. But this time, I didn't struggle. He sighed.

"So." Ikuto huffed in reply to my earlier 'so'. "What's on your mind?"

"What's on my mind…?" I blathered quietly, almost nonchalantly; still trying to grasping the fact that he was so close to me. I could feel his steady heartbeat in my back, which made me hope that he couldn't feel mine, which was beating erratically and uncontrollably. His arms were wrapped comfortably around my waist, and the fireplace plus the blanket warmed us up nicely. Perhaps I could use the heat as an excuse for the reason why my face was so red, if he happened to ask.

Wait, what was I thinking? I had to answer his first question! And yet, I couldn't! If I did, that could lead to something I wasn't ready to tell him yet. Perhaps if I reworded it…

"Rima has a secret," I replied to him. Rima didn't really have a secret, but as punishment for calling me slow, I was going to use her as the temporary scapegoat. She'd better hope Ikuto can keep a secret.

"Rima?" He asked, confused at the sudden mention of her. I nodded.

"I was trying to figure out a way to help her, but I couldn't think of a way, so the others called me slow."

He remained quiet, so I continued. "Rima likes someone, but doesn't want to tell that person because she's satisfied with simply hanging around that person. But… she's also afraid that someone else might come and take the person she likes away; forcing her to tell that person she likes him when she fears that the feeling might not be mutual. She really doesn't want to risk losing him to another girl, but also doesn't want to risk losing her friendship if he doesn't feel the same way."

"She does not care if she cannot be by that person's side as a partner, because she's happy with the blessing of just having that person near. But she just can't stand the idea of seeing that person snatched away, either." I looked up at him to see his captivating amethyst eyes staring down into my honey colored ones, despite this; I was able to say my next few sentences without a single stutter somehow.

"You know how some girls are. Over-protective of who they like, and thus not letting their special person not hang around anyone else. What if, the person who steals him away is like that? But then again, she worries a lot. Perhaps a bit too much. But don't tell Rima I told you this! It's a _secret_! Anyway, I was trying to think of a way to help her, but couldn't think of anything, and was a bit frustrated by that. I mean, she's always helping me, and I couldn't think of anything to assist her the one time she needed advice."

There was quiet for about three seconds, before he replied, "If she's rejected, wouldn't it have been better than never knowing? What's more, he shouldn't have a problem continuing being friends with her if their really that close. Being rejected isn't as bad as having the other person never know." I smiled at this. Ikuto always had the right things to say, even know, with us being so much older, even though we've changed so much. As always, short but sweet.

"You speak as if you've had a lot of experience in that department, Ikuto!"

"You could say that," he said passively, quickly moving onto the next topic before I could reply to the last one, "And besides, everyone knows you'd need help with such things, you're brain just can't grasp something like this yet."

"W-what!?" I barked in reply, "I can comprehend that!"

"Oh really? I honestly wonder about that, Amu."

"And why would you wonder about something like that?"

"Oh, I have my reasons…" he mumbled, yawning a little.

"Hmmm…" And all became quiet again. Only the crackling of the fireplace could be heard as I sat there in his arms, thinking. So, did this mean I should just go ahead and tell Ikuto? I mean, he'd practically said it himself that it was better too confess than too say nothing at all. But then again, he'd been speaking about a person he wasn't very close too, not me, so perhaps he was just speaking a bit more freely on the subject. But either way, I should probably just go ahead and say it. It was kind of funny actually, since Ikuto didn't know that he'd just given me advice on whether or not to confess too _him_. But, now wasn't the time. Not tonight, at least. I'd do it some other time in the next days to come.

And then, Ikuto unexpectedly fell too his side, taking me down with him. I was going to stand up and stomp on him for falling on me, when I realized his arms, still locked around my waist as before, prevented me from doing that, since I was under it. I struggled to twist around and face him so I could yell at him, only too find that Ikuto had fallen asleep. I was stunned for a moment, on how much his sleeping cat-like features were still intact. Being able to fall asleep just like that was _so_ like him. His sleeping face hadn't changed since those three days he'd stayed at my house when I was little. And I could still remember what he'd said to me about that, too…

"_Hey, you should hide the keys in your window better. It's not safe."_

"_Oh yeah? I should call you 'trespassing perverted cat ears guy'…"_

"_You keep saying 'pervert, pervert!' … Do you really even know what that means?"_

"_O-of course I do!"_

"_Really? Do you know what a _real_ pervert looks like?"_

"… _Eh? I real one?"_

"_Yeah… Someone who watches a person while their sleeping, always looking at their sleeping face, grinning at it."_

"_I-I wasn't grinning at it!"_

"_Oh, so you admit you were staring?"_

"_RHGG! GIMME BACK MY TAIYAKI!"_

I chuckled quietly at that moment; it had been fun having him over, even if I hadn't wanted to admit it back then. His teasing didn't seem as promiscuous right now as it was back then, but Ikuto was probably still adjusting to being back in Japan with everyone, including me. I wondered if he'd pick up on it later, or if he'd just matured and toned it down a little.

Taking one last look at his innocent sleeping expression, I curled up beside him and closed my eyes, breathing in his scent, and was tempted to wake him up and tell him right then and there. But I, for the third time that day, restrained myself and did not.

But I was tired of having to restrain myself all the time.  
I wanted to feel like I could act any way I _felt _I should around Ikuto, not the way I was _expected_ too.  
So I'd tell him some other time in the next days to come._  
Perhaps tomorrow would be good.  


* * *

_

_**Alex's notes -** (1) Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe 'Mi gato se está quemando' means 'My cat is on fire'. xP Before you ask, no. I don't speak Spanish well. Har har. –Has a C+ and is ashamed- But yeah, I got that idea because it's my friends, friends battle cry when he runs off to play football. :P Thought it fit there...  
_

_Well, there's the end of that chapter. It was longer than the last, surprisingly 14 pages (Or 43, depending on how you count it.). I didn't think it would turn out this long. O.o It sure was fun to write though. I love writing. 3 And yet, I feel as though it could have come out better somehow… What do you all think? I think could have put more dialog in for Ikuto in this chapter, so I'll try to make up for that in the next!  
_

_Also… -Sad music plays-_

_My spring break is ending this weekend._

_School's starting on Monday so don't expect the next chapter to be out _too_ soon. I know for a fact that I'm going to have a science project to work on right off the bat of the quarter, but I'll still do everything my power to get it out as soon as time allows me! I'll start working on it tomorrow, since I've nothing to do but wash my dog and do a little laundry. So maybe I'll be able to get it out sooner than expected. *Crosses fingers*_

_The next chapter is likely to be the last. I wanted this fanfic to be short, sweet, & so full of Amuto-ness that you will all do back-flips of joy. But I doubt the last part would happen. _

_Heehee… -giggles mischievously-_


	3. The inundation of snow

_**Alex's notes: **Final chapter._

_Sorry about it being so late, but I had three unexpected projects to do for school this week, and was fairly sick Monday through Wednesday, so I was very busy and had little time to write by the end of each day._

_(Way too many projects for the 1__st__ week of a new quarter, if you ask me… v_v)_

_I think this chapter's rather unrealistic in certain aspects, but that's okay. It's still grand._

_Excuse my non-existent knowledge of snowboarding. :) I'm a skier, so I know practically nothing. xD But I think snowboarding fits Amu better, so I had no choice. The mountain is based a little off of heavenly in Tahoe California, so if you've been there, use your imagination._

_One more thing – Thank you __xMelitheKonekox for encouraging me to finish this quickly! Without you, this probably wouldn't have gotten the boost I needed to finish for another three days or so, but I managed to do this chapter in two days instead of a week and a half. You're wonderful, Melissa! –huggles- BE SURE to read my note at the END!**  
**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Shugo Chara!  


* * *

**_

_When the snow brought you back_

Chapter 3: The inundation of snow.

Perhaps I don't have a right to say this because I'm young. But I've gotta say, I've seen a lot of things in my few years of living, and yet nothing quite like this. Mount Seraph was way different than any mountain I'd ever snowboarded on before. I mean, I knew it was special when I'd first taken the bus up there, but once I'd actually gotten on the chairlift to go up on it… I couldn't be more amazed.

It was kind of like going on a Farris Wheel ride, accept the chairlift spiraled up the mountain, and on the way up you got an even better view of the surrounding area. The trees with a blend of white and green colors at the very bottom of the mountain, the lake in the center of a giant forest, and the light fall of snow would have made it a very romantic ride up. That is, if I hadn't been so afraid. And angry.

I sat mutely next to Ikuto on the chair lift, 2000 feet in the air, feeling the emotions of anger, fright, and amazement all at the same time. And perhaps, some embarrassment hidden beneath all three of those that I refused to believe was there. But most of all, I was angry and terrified.

"You know, Amu…" Ikuto began, breaking the silence that had gone between us since before breakfast.

"Shut up." I snapped crossly, cutting him off and refusing to look at him.

"But, Amu, I – "

"Ikuto, I don't want to hear it."

"Just listen. Please?"

"Leave me alone!" I shouted, scowling at the scenery to my left and resisting my urge to practically claw his face off. He was quiet again, and I could finally focus on calming down and forcing down my fright.

I could tell that today just wasn't going to be the best of days, since I was still quite upset with Ikuto about what had happened this morning.

Before waking, I had been dreaming. I was walking around aimlessly in a medieval setting, feeling as though I had something important too do. But I just couldn't remember what it was it was.

The medieval town I was in was having some sort of festivity, with confetti, performances, and children running around eating candies or playing with any special toys they may have gotten from it. It was a clear day, in that dream, and I continued walking on the cobble stones without a clear direction until I hit something. I looked up to see a young man with green hair and blue eyes, staring at me coldly. He had a blue cat puppet on his right hand, and said some words to me that I couldn't understand before grabbing me by my wrist and dragging me off to some odd stand.

The stand was colorful with different colors of cloths and balloons, and had a curtain in the front. Children were gathering around it, and I was taken behind the colorful stand by the man with green hair. He said some more things I couldn't understand, and then pointed too a box near his feet. Assuming he wanted me too look in it, I reached in and pulled out a doll-like puppet with pink hair and honey button eyes, it looked so much like me that it was scary.

I looked up at him in confusion, but he just shoved the puppet on my hand, thrust my head below the curtain of the stand and pulled a rope that opened the curtains. And then the children cheered.

It was then I realized that what I had to do must have been to be part of some sort of puppet show, but I still couldn't remember agreeing to it. Nevertheless, I played along with it only to find that when I spoke, I could speak nothing but the same gibberish the green haired man had been using when he spoke to me. I couldn't understand a word I was saying, but everyone else seemed too because they were laughing at what appeared to be the appropriate times, so I kept talking, dispite my lack of understanding.

As the little puppet play came to a close, a man came behind the stand with a large bucket of white feathers. He waited until the moment the blue cat and pink haired puppet held hands happily before dumping the feathers on them, and the moment that happened, an unrecognizable force told me to make my puppet collapse. And so I did.

Then the curtains closed.

The play ended.

And everyone clapped and showed great optimism.

As the others started packing up, I felt sudden abrupt pain in my chest, and I fell to the ground. The green haired man and the man who had dropped paint on the puppets hovered over me, saying things I couldn't understand, but I ignored them as I struggled to continue breathing. After that, I think I might have died in that dream, but I'd never know because I woke up to something very unpleasant before being able to finish it.

"Ugh…Vïn…" I felt myself waking up, still muttering gibberish from my dream, and had trouble finding the will to open my eyes. Once I finally did, I realized a couple things. The fireplace was turned off – probably courtesy of my Guardians, It was morning, and I wasn't facing Ikuto anymore. I could still feel him sleeping behind me, so I figured I must've just turned around in my sleep or something.

And slowly, I woke up a little more. Ikuto moved a little bit, and I cringed once I realized our – well, more like _his_ position. We were still lying on the floor, but now, he had his arms wrapped firmly around me in his sleep, and he was gripping and snuggling against me as though I was some sort of teddy bear. This would have been all fine and dandy with me, as I was almost comfortable like that, accept for the fact that he was groping me with one hand while the other was practically locking me into position.

I waited a few seconds to see if he would stop and realize I was awake. If he apologized and made a cute enough face, maybe I'd forgive him. Maybe. But he didn't. So I decided it was unforgivable, without hesitation.

Roughly pushing Ikuto's arms off me, I stood up, and his arms fell limply too the carpet. I towering above him, waiting for him to move so I could yell at him, and was almost sickened by his simpering expression. But he just sustained his sleeping pose. I was convinced he was pretending to sleep.

"…Ikuto." I called to him in a serious tone. But he did nothing. So I called to him again, this time poking his face with my foot, and still nothing.

"So, you're going to insist that you pretend to sleep?! You think you'll get away with this!?" I stormed out of the bedroom and went over to the kitchen sink, waking up the guardians, and filled a glass up with water, then stalked back to the where he lay.

"YOU PERVERTED IDIOT!" I screamed, splashing the water in his face and then kicking him once in the stomach unwaveringly. "I hate you!"

He was awake now, fully attentive, and actually had the nerve to wear a look of confusion on his face. How dare he!

"What the hell Amu?!" He yelled, glaring up and me with a new expression of blended hurt and fury through his now dripping wet hair. What gave him the right to even _ask_ me that question!?

"Don't play dumb with me, you pervert! If you think I'm going to play dumb after you… you… _grope_ me like that, you've got another thing coming too you! So wipe that look of innocence off your face!" My cheeks had turned completely red now, not only from embarrassment but from anger as well.

"What are you talking about?! I was only sleeping until you came and _kicked_ me!" He insisted. I scowled at him, refusing to believe such an asinine explanation.

"Oh yeah?" I challenged him sarcastically, stomping over too the closet and pulling out my snowboarding clothes for the day, "Then you must be a really sick person since you go around groping people _in your sleep_." I walked out the room and into the bathroom, shouting before I slammed the door, "Like I'll believe that!"

Locking the door behind me, I set my clothes down on the counter before running the water in the bathtub and sat down on the tile while waiting for it to warm up. I stared up at the ceiling rather blankly, a long sigh following soon after.

'_Hah, and I was thinking he wasn't as promiscuous as before. Why does Ikuto have to be the one I like so much? Why couldn't it have been someone with less perverted tendencies…?' _I took the chance to stifle a sniffle before it turned into a sob of some sort, I shouldn't be crying. But I was so upset at that moment, it was tempting.

'_Well, I guess it's just as the saying goes…' you like who you like', and I suppose you can't change that.'_

I was actually starting to feel a little guilty about kicking Ikuto; perhaps I'd gone too far. The water alone would have woken him up, but in my moment of annoyance I just had the urge to do something a little extra. Maybe I was being too sensitive, but at the same time that still didn't make what Ikuto did okay.

I snapped out of my moment of reflection and remembered to turn off the bath water, quickly sinking in once I'd undressed and put my hair up. As I soaked in the water, I decided.

Today wouldn't be the best day to confess after all.

***

After I'd finished soaking, I put on my pink ski jacket and pants, wearing a purple and white swirly tie-dye long sleeved shirt underneath. I slipped into my purple snowboard boots and tossed my dirty pajamas into a luggage bag that I'd specifically brought just for that – dirty clothes, and took a deep breath before opening the door. I'd already decided that the best thing to do was to just avoid speaking to him for today, or at least for now, and decide what to do later.

The door creaked as I opened and peered into the hallway to find adjacent bedroom door closed – I didn't waste any time dashing passed it and picking up my snowboard, leaving the apartment without waiting for my guardians.

When I left to have breakfast, I found the others in the cafeteria already, having some odd debate about whether or not cake should be considered an official breakfast or not. (I'm sure Yaya started that one.) I sat down next to them and joined them in their little conversation, dodging or giving short answers to any questions about Ikutos whereabouts.

Once he finally came down the elevator and sat down with us, however, I think it became apparent to the others that something was up. When he arrived at our table I took a moment to cast him a glare and make sure he understood we weren't 'buddies' today. He was wearing a black jacket and pants, a blue shirt that matched his hair, and the same colored snowboard boots, with a snowboard at his side that looked custom made, because it looked similar to Yorus egg. Wait, why was I staring for so long!? I mentally slapped myself as I turned away and continued listening too Yaya's babbling of cake, saying nothing too him. He stared back at me with some confused and bewildered expression. As we ate our breakfast, it became evident to everyone that something wrong between Ikuto and I, but no one mentioned it until we all went to go grab our snowboards (or skis, in the cases of Tadase, Rima, and Nagihiko.) and headed for the chairlift.

I had originally made a point to try and sit next to Yaya or Rima on the way up, since I needed someone to talk too and I didn't want to be stuck with Ikuto or anyone else besides for that matter besides them on the way up, but instead received a lecture from them on how I was being 'cruel' to Ikuto from the two. They didn't even let up enough to let me explain my situation, and just continued talking, telling me how I was being an 'extremist', until I gave up on trying to tell them what had happened between us.

Then, they _purposefully_ pushed me in front of them at the last minute once we'd gotten in line, forcing me to sit to the guy I had been trying to avoid for the last two hours. And, well, that's how I got stuck on the seven minute ride up the mountain with Ikuto. Angry. Upset. Embarrassed.

And really, it was as scary as it sounds. Hovering 2000 feet in the air above the ground on nothing but a chairlift on a cord really brought out the height-fearing part of me, similar to that of when I was on the plane to get here, but it wasn't as bad. Still though, being that high up was scaring the living crap out of me, and I was trying to focus more on staying calm than ignoring Ikuto at that moment.

_*Whoosh* _The chair wobbled backward then forward in a much greater radius than normal, and I turned to face forward, clutching the bar in front of me for dear life.

"I-I-Ikuto! Stop making the stupid chair wobble!"

He smirked at me malevolently and grabbed the bar on his side, then swung his legs and made our chair swing abnormally again.

"Stop it, stop it, STOP IT! You perverted cosplaying cat!" I shouted, my voice rising in panic as I pushed myself as far back as possible into my seat and kept my arms locked in position on the safety bar in front of me.

"Only if you talk to me," he negotiated, smirk still intact.

"_NO!!_"

"Okay then," he complied, swinging his legs for the third time.

"Okay, okay! Just stop it already!" I pleaded, my heart about to stop beating from the terrorizing thought entering my mind of me falling off the chair, screaming as I fell to an inescapable death…

"You know it's practically impossible to fall off of this thing from just swinging it. Are you really that afraid of heights?" What, was he a mind reader now?

"W-who wouldn't be when their sitting next to an idiot who keeps making the friggen chair move 2000 feet above the ground!?"

"I can think of a lot of people who actually might find it entertaining to swing in a chairlift."

"Well it doesn't matter, because I'm not one of those people," I countered, relaxing in my seat a little as I let my panic level deflate a bit.

"I suppose." He muttered, trailing off for a minute before moving to his next topic – "So, care to explain what was up with you this morning?"

"If you're going to ask, then it's not worth explaining." I explained to him in a somewhat calmer voice. Perhaps if I closed my eyes and imagined I wasn't on the chairlift…

"Well it's obviously worth something since you're neglecting me."

"Well, think of it as your punishment."

"What punishment?"

"Me ignoring you."

"But you're talking to me right now…"

"No, I'm not."

"But you are."

And then silence. Hah, what now?

"Amu." He snapped once I was quiet for longer than twenty seconds. I looked over to him, attempting to put on a monotone expression, and then pointed ahead of us. We were nearing the end of the ride up, and the slope was coming into view. I sighed in relief as I hopped off the chairlift, sliding down the start of the slope beside Ikuto a bit before stopping to buckle my boot into my snowboard. I heard numerous other slides behind me, Tadase, Rima, and Nagihiko came up first, followed by Yaya, Utau, and Kukai who also stopped near to fasten their feet into their boards.

"Amu, Ikuto, do you want us to wait for you?" Nagihiko asked, Rima standing angrily beside him, glaring at me.

"_Amu…_ Why didn't you do as Yaya and I said!?" She barked at me. I assumed she meant why I didn't attempt to make up with Ikuto – What, did this girl have bionic hearing or something? She may have been in the chair behind me, but there was still quite some distance between them. How did she manage to hear my argument with him from where she was?! Wait, maybe it was because I was screaming…

I brushed off her question; I was no longer in the mood to talk to anyone. Right now, I just wanted to have fun and snowboard, preferably alone. "I'll tell you later, and no need too wait for me Nagihiko, I'm off." And with that, I zoomed down the slope, much to Rima's disapproval.

"Amu!" She called after me.

"Amu-chi, wait for me!" Yaya joined in.

"Oi…!" I barely heard Ikuto call to me through the slushy sound of the snow, but I caught the scarce hint of annoyance in his tone. Good. He deserved being annoyed, the jerk! I smirked, kind of evilly. It was nice to know that I had _some _power over him, even if it wasn't at potent as when he annoyed me.

Suddenly, there was a gust of wind and a little snow being kicked up; my hair flowed a bit in the air as I caught sighed of Nagihiko and Kukai speeding past me, a flower and star in their hair. Crap. They'd done a character change…

"Race us down if you can keep up, AMU!" Nagihiko challenged as he continued to speed down the slope, a scary glint in his eyes and a wicked smile on his lips. Kukai followed behind him in suit.

"You're on! Lets go, Ran!" I waited a few seconds. Still no Character Change? I looked around and remembered – I left everyone back in the room when I had left in a hurry!

"Fine, I'll guess I'll just beat that cheater without Ran's help!" Ran _was_ my would-be self, after all. Even if she wasn't here to give me that extra boost, I was sure I could beat Nagihiko without her help if I just tried hard enough. I put a little more pressure on the board and swerved sharply on a turn that was coming up, finally starting to gain speed. Kukai glanced behind his shoulder and saw me gaining on him, and then I saw his eyes widen a bit before he picked up speed, leaving me in his snowy dust. No matter, I could still keep up!

We raced down the hill and I only managed to pass up Nagihiko once, but he exceeded me so easily that it seemed impossible to beat him. With the end of the hill and some new chairlifts in sight, it was our signal that the race would soon be over. Kukai and I were trying our best just to keep up with Nagihiko, who seemed to have a large splurge of energy at the last moment, but Kukai was eventually the one to pass him up before we neared the end of the slope.

Before I got there, however, I was startled by a heavy wave of snow, my goggles were completely covered in white, and I tilted to the side a little as I waved my arms in a desperate attempt to stay on balance. I closed my eyes before falling on my back in the snow, and when I opened them again, I turned my head to see Ikuto at the end of the slope with Kukai and Nagihiko, the two laughing their idiotic little heads off while Nagihiko stood quietly and waited for me to come down. I'll say it once, and I'll say it again. That jerk! Ikuto had completely screwed up the race, even though I wasn't going to win, I would have liked to finish with them! And knocking me over by startling me with that giant barrage of snow was totally uncalled for! I was already irritated with him, what made him think _that_ would help!?

I stood up with a frustrated face and brushed the snow off my self lightly before making a slow descend to the bottom of the slope, completely ignoring Ikuto and Kukai as I passed by them. Their laughter quieted a little bit as they seemed to get it through their thick sculls that I really _was_ angry, but they were a bit late since I was already on my way to the next lift. Nagihiko skied up beside me silently, waiting in line until it was our turn to go up on another run. He waited until I'd been quiet for a bit longer than usual before asking –

"Amu-chan, you're not connecting with anyone today. What's the matter?"

Frosty air could be seen making its descent into the air as I sighed. I looked over to him lazily, and spoke carefully and quietly, as though other people would be listening. "A lot of things, Nagihiko."

"If it's about that sudden wave of snow earlier, I'm sorry." He apologized, his brown eyes genuine. I smiled warily at him.

"What are you apologizing for? It wasn't you're idea, it was that idiotic cat's."

"Oh, so he's an idiot now is he?" He inquired, grinning a little, "I thought you two were getting along nicely yesterday. Why are you so cross with him?"

"I don't even want to go down that road, so let's just say he did something that defies all possibility of him having any morals."

"Really? He didn't strike me as that kind of person."

"He always has to me, so take my word for it."

"You sound as though you know him so well," he observed, raising an eyebrow. "Are you two really that close?"

I blushed a little at his question. Was I really _close_ to Ikuto, per say? It was rather hard to tell, now that I thought about it. We'd known each other for awhile, but never really hung out like I would with most people. Well, when I was younger at least. The only time I remembered really hanging around him was when we went to the amusement park once, and at the same time, I felt comfortable enough to be myself around him. Perhaps Ikuto and I had one of those relationships where you don't need to know all the little tidbits about the other person to understand them, because it seemed obvious to me right now that we just kinda clicked whenever we were together.

"In a way, I think so." I admitted.

"If you two _are_ close friends, then wouldn't it be better to just make up then?" He asked, "I don't know what he did to make you upset, but if he won't apologize, then perhaps he's just having trouble doing so?" That made sense. Ikuto had never really been a direct kind of person, like that one time when he broke my tart that I'd baked, and then brought me his idea of "compensation," without really saying sorry. Maybe to him, actions spoke louder than words, and if that was true, perhaps he just had trouble saying what he really wanted to say?

My smile grew a little as I gave Nagihiko a more direct look. "Hah, even though you aren't Nadeshiko anymore, you still kept your knack for always knowing what to say to me."

He beamed, "I'm always happy to be of help, Amu. I'm technically Nadeshiko, even right now, so I still have to look out for you as I would have if I was still pretending to be her."

This was true. I could still remember the day I found out Nagihiko was really a Nadeshiko. I had been really shocked when he finally told me on the last day of elementary school. At first, I hadn't known how to react, or to even comprehend how two of my closest friends who I had been led to believe to be twins were the same person. Even after he explained his predicament, which was that he had to pretend to be a girl in his early years to take up dancing, I still didn't quite get it. The first emotion I felt after he told me this was confusion. But soon to follow was a bit of betrayal. How could Nagihiko keep such an important secret from me, even though we had been so close? I had always told him all of my problems, whether her was Nadeshiko or Nagihiko at that moment, but he still hadn't told me. After that feeling had subsided, I began too feel a little sad. I would never be able to see Nadeshiko again, and even though she was Nagihiko, it still felt as though they were two different people. I'd contemplated this, and after awhile, I got over the fact that they were the same person. Well, for the most part. Even to this day, I still have trouble from time to time in recognizing that their still the same person, but it's mostly sunken in, so my slip-ups are rare.

I nodded contentedly at his comment before we made it too the top of the hill. There were three paths to take, each with their own level of difficulty, and I decided to try and brave the black diamond run. Even though I may not have been as fast as Kukai or Nagihiko, I still considered myself a very good snowboarder.

"Nagihiko, I'm going to go take the intermediate run. Just don't tell the others, okay? I'd like to go alone for awhile." I lied, not wanting even Nagihiko to know I was going down the black diamond run. Snowboarding alone would be the best idea at the moment, so that I could clear my head. Behind me, I saw that only a few of the others had chosen the same run as Nagihiko and I did and were coming up the lift, none of which were Ikuto, so I had to leave quickly before they noticed which road I took.

Nagihiko nodded in agreement, "I won't tell a soul. Just be careful, okay?" I nodded before watching him go down the easier run – probably just to use it as a warm up. After he was out of sight, I took off in the destined direction, ready for anything this run may have to throw at me before anyone else could see me take the harder run.

The route wasn't as difficult as I expected it to be at first, it was just a bit steep, but nothing I couldn't handle. The odd thing was how there was almost no one else on the run. I had seen a few people on the first run down, but even then there weren't many people either. But then again, the resort was small, so maybe there wasn't much space for a lot of people, hence the thinned out runs. But it was kind of nice; I didn't have to dodge too many people and could enjoy snowboarding by myself.

The hill began to level just a bit, making it a little less steep, but I paid no attention to that. I was too busy trying to figure out how to deal with the many moguls that had suddenly appeared – yes, I said I was good at snowboarding, but I never was too great with dealing with moguls. I flailed my arms a bit as I tried to keep my balance while going over the bumps, and it seemed to work for awhile, but then I swayed a bit too much and started falling down the hill just as it began to steepen again. I rolled down the hill roughly with my eyes closed, my shoulders hitting some form of bump or object with almost every turn I made as I descended downward, and I soon found myself unable to stop. I could feel one of my boots loosening in my snowboard, and had a feeling it would pop off soon – which was _not _good.

And then, I suddenly felt nothing under me. I opened my eyes to see I was now falling off the far side of the cliff – my snowboard finally popped off on one foot before I hit the ground below and began rolling once again – and my ankle began to twist in my snowboard as it bounced with the fall. Before my second boot came off the board, I heard my ankle crack as I fell once again off a second small cliff, but this time, I came to a stop. I was still for a moment, because I knew I'd just broken my ankle and didn't want it to hurt any worse than it was about too – but staying still didn't stop small ache from turning into almost unbearable pain.

I tried to resist letting out a small scream as I pulled my cell phone from my jacket's pocket, dialing Tadase's number to get some help. He was the most familiar with the mountain, so he would be the best choice to call. I heard a small beep, and then… _"Battery dead. Please recharge." _I lay on the cold snow for a long time quietly, my mind blank, before finally grasping my situation. My ankle was broken. My cell phone didn't work. I was alone, and it was impossible to contact anyone. I was stuck… it was possible I could die here.

It was only at that moment I allowed myself to scream.

But I stopped when a loud crushing noise filled the air.

***

[Ikuto's P.O.V]

The sun was setting, which meant the day was ending. It had been filled with lots of random races, wind, and eating weird food at the ski lodges. I spent the day with Utau and Kukai – Who I soon discovered I got along quite nicely with. Everyone had split up and went on their desired runs, so I didn't get the chance to see anyone else for most of the day. This was rather disappointing. I wanted to snowboard with Amu today, but she was still upset with me over what had happened that morning and the whole snow thing, so I decided it was just best to leave her alone for now. Honestly, what happened in the morning hadn't been my intent. You can kind of compare it to when you're sleeping with a stuffed animal of some sort. You get comfortable, and perhaps squeeze it's head unconsciously… okay, so maybe no one else was like that when they were little, but Amu really brought out the kid in me so it was bound to happen.

Kukai called Tadase and Nagihiko, and decided it was time to go back down the mountain to the resort. I didn't argue – I was becoming tired after trying to keep up with him and Utau all day.

We all met at the bottom of the first run we had all taken that day, and everyone looked quite worn-out.

"Yaya-chan… is tired…" The girl with brown pigtails panted after we were all together.

"I am too, why don't we all head back for today?" Tadase suggested, his smile never fading. Everyone agreed to that, and started heading to the chairlift that would take us back down the mountain before I noticed something.

"Where is Amu?" Everyone blinked at me, and then looked around themselves. Amu was not here.

"Well," Nagihiko began, "The last time I saw Amu today was when we got to the top of our first chosen slope. She said she wanted to snowboard alone, and that she was going on the intermediate run. She also told me not to tell anyone, and as I did, I suppose I forgot that she was alone…" he paused, a guilty look suddenly coming across his face. "Has anyone else seen her today?"

Silence. After a few seconds, Rima pulled out her cell phone to dial her number. I felt my stomach twist in a knot when a look of worry suddenly appeared on the petite blonds face.

"…She's not picking up."

"Maybe she's on a run right now and won't pick up her phone until she's done?" Utau suggested, although the concern was still evident in her tone of voice as she said so.

"Let's give her ten minutes. If she doesn't pick up by then, we'll have to tell someone she's missing." Tadase said reluctantly, I could tell he didn't want to believe she was missing. And frankly, I didn't either. But I had no choice but to believe she was missing after we waited an extra ten minutes for her to pick up her phone, still receiving no response. After Tadase notified the ski patrol of Amu's absence, they instructed us to go back to the resort and leave finding Amu to them. Of course, I didn't listen, and snuck off to find her myself. If you want something done right, you've got to do it yourself, correct?

After I managed to get away from the others, I went up to the run Nagihiko said she'd went down the last time he saw her, but soon decided against checking the intermediate run. If Nagihiko had told the ski patrol officers where he last saw her, that would be the first place they would check, and thus I might get caught and sent back to the resort. Plus if they were already checking that one, my help wouldn't be needed. So, I made the decision to check out the black diamond run, since Nagihiko had taken the easy route without Amu so that took out the possibility of her being stuck over there. Besides, who gets lost on an easy run anyway? Amu was clueless about a lot of things, but I didn't think that she'd get herself stuck on an easy run.

As I snowboarded down the run, I looked for any sign that might help me find Amu. Perhaps some tracks, a missing item, pink hair… but found nothing each time I searched. After I'd gone up and down the run three times, I was having difficulties thinking outside the box on where to look, and in addition to that, it was almost dark so I was running out of time. On my fourth time down, I was snowboarding near the edge of the slope, when I noticed something. In the area with moguls, there were odd stamps in the snow that eventually lead over a side of the hill that had a large _KEEP OUT _sign on them. I slid slowly over to it, careful not the cross the boundary of the sign as I peered down to the below. It cut abruptly into a cliff, so there was a short fall, and further down on that level of the fall was yet _another _fall. I examined the scene a bit from a distance, and was almost ready to disregard it as nothing, before I saw it.

A trace of something familiar, purple and pink with swirl patterns dotted on it, lying in the snow.

***

[Amu's P.O.V]

It was dark out. And not only was it dark out, but it was cold too. It was so cold, in fact, that my fingers and toes had become numb, but not numb enough for my ankle to cease hurting. But that was probably a good thing, because without that pain, I probably would have fallen asleep under the pine trees, which would have made me difficult to find if anyone was searching for me, and plus falling asleep in the snow isn't exactly the safest thing to do. _Was_ anyone searching for me? I hoped they noticed I was gone, but then again I had told Nagihiko not to tell anyone about me snowboarding on my own for today. Probably not the best decision of my life, but at the same time, I knew Nagihiko wasn't stupid and would definitely tell someone I had been gone for too long.

Even as I tried to reassure myself that I would surely be found, I had a hard time believing it. I'd been laying here in the snow for the passed six hours, and no one had noticed me. That was understandable though, seeing as I had not only fallen down one ledge, but two, and somehow managed to fall into some sort of small ditch under the second ledge, making me impossible to spot from the above. Earlier, I had discovered that it was better to stay quiet than to yell for help, because any loud noise like a scream could trigger a rush of snow to fall from a nearby mountain. It had been a very minor amount of snow, but I knew it was possible to die from being covered by the snow of an avalanche so I decided it was better to stay quiet.

This was proving quite difficult though, because I had a very large urge to scream at the moment due to the pain in my ankle, the fear of possibly dying in such a place, and in hope that someone would find me. But it had been six hours and still, no one had come for me. I was beginning to lose hope.

I curled up as much as I could without disturbing my leg and stared off into space beside me at a small pile of snow, the atmosphere became darker, and I became even colder. I finally gave up on trying to sound positive. No one was going to find me, at least not while I was alive. Thoughts of regret began to creep into my thoughts. I wished I could have said something to my guardians before I left this morning. They were probably really upset about me leaving them this morning and not taking them up the mountain with me, but I honestly hadn't meant to do it. I was in such a rush that I had totally forgotten about taking them along. But if that pervert Ikuto hadn't…

Ikuto… I wished I'd confessed to him the night before all of this happened, or at least made up with him while I was on the chairlift. That would have made me feel a whole lot better right now. Then again, I wouldn't _be_ in this situation if I'd just swallowed my pride earlier and let him speak to me. Maybe I would have spent the day with him, and I wouldn't have gone on this run alone or maybe at all. I would have made it home safely, received a scolding from my Guardian Characters, taken them up with me the next day, and told Ikuto how I felt sometime during the moments I spent here. But noooo, I had to be an _idiot _and decide to go on such a difficult slope without doing any of that.

'_Why can't things just go the way I'd like them too? Why not just this once?' _I asked myself, my eyes beginning to brim with tears. _'I never thought it was that much to ask for. I even waited five years to see Ikuto again… and what about my friends? They'll be heartbroken if no one manages to find me! And my parents will probably blame themselves, seeing as it took me a whole week to convince them to not come along. And Ami… what will she do if I'm not there to be her big sister anymore? She's only seven; can she really handle gripping the concept of me being gone forever?' _

"Or maybe I'm just jumping too conclusions…" I whispered to myself half-heartedly. But what was the use of trying to comfort myself when the odds were against me? My cheeks were becoming numb from being leaned up against the snow for so long, but I couldn't move without disturbing my ankle, which could result in a scream, and perhaps causing an avalanche, which just was not worth it. I was curling and uncurling my fingers slowly in a sad and hopeless attempt at warming them up, when I heard a rustle. There was a sliding noise, a pause, and then the sound of footsteps. Someone was approaching? I breathed a sigh of relief as I heard the footsteps advance towards me; there was a _plop _noise and them some more walking.

"Where did that idiot go…?" I heard someone mumble. But it wasn't just anyone; I'd recognize that voice anywhere.

"Idiot huh…" I said quietly, still not making much of an attempt of moving. He was probably right about that. I _was _an idiot.

"Amu!" I heard Ikuto call; there was a rush of footsteps, a pause, and then a feeling of warmth that came over me for whatever reason. I did care what this reason was, I was just happy I could see Ikuto again. He leaned over me in the ditch and helped me sit up, "What are you doing here?!" He demanded, his expression angry but beyond that, still unreadable. "Do you have any idea how worried everyone's been!?"

Of course I did! What a stupid question! "What do you mean, 'do I have any idea'!? Of course I do, but I couldn't help it because I fell and broke my ankle, and my phone's battery died! I haven't been able to move for the last six hours, so give me a break…!" I screeched at him, the tears that threatened to fall earlier beginning to slide down my face. I didn't like crying, especially in front of someone else. But at that moment, I couldn't hold anything else in any longer. All the fears, guilt, regrets, and frustrations that had been building up during the day where crashing down on me all at once, and I was finally breaking. I made a feeble attempt to wipe my face with the gloves on my hands a little, but it was futile. I continued anyway, making it an excuse not to look at Ikuto, who I expected was probably looking at me with a raised eyebrow or something. But what I didn't expect was for him to pull me into a third embrace.

"Iku-" I was hushed.

"Don't say anything. I'm sorry I yelled, You just had me worried, that's all…" He admitted quietly. My cheeks lighted up a little and I calmed down, even though I normally would have disliked my blushing, it was warmth, so it was welcome. Ikuto was worried about _me_? Well, that should have been obvious. After all, he'd come to find me. I'm sure everyone else was worried as well, as he said, but it was still quite enlightening to know the person I liked was worried enough to come out at this time of day to find me.

"You're ankles broken?" He asked suddenly, glancing over to my boot. I nodded absently.

"Then let's get you back to the resort," he said, suddenly picking me up bridal style, preparing to take me back.

"H-hey!" I almost protested, it had been a long time since Ikuto had picked me up like that, so it shocked me a little.

"How else do you expect me to get you to a hospital?" He smirked his signature smirk at me – and at that moment, I was certain I was in love with the blue headed man. My face suddenly felt as though it was on fire, but unfortunately, this wasn't one of those situations where I could turn away, so I was out of luck.

"Oh, look, your face is getting some color again," he commented upon noticing the sudden surge of red.

"S-shut up…" I mumbled. Ikuto walked over to his board and set me down next to a tree trunk as he picked it up, and switched the position from bridal style to piggy back riding when he came to get me again. I didn't protest – I was tired and wanted to get back quickly. As he was getting ready you figure out a way to get us both back up the ledges, we both heard a sudden crushing noise not too far off. I stiffened, and Ikuto felt it.

"What's wrong?"

I was quite for a second before I began, "Ikuto, don't ask questions. Just run."

"Why?"

"Didn't I tell you not to ask questions!? Forget about the board; just make a run for it!" Crap, I just yelled some more, didn't I? That probably didn't help.

"…But why?" Ikuto didn't quite get it until another crushing sound filled the air. But this time, it didn't abruptly stop like it had the first two times. It continued… and was getting louder by the second.

"Avalanche!" I shouted, pointing in the direction the noise was coming from. He seemed to understand at that single word, and dropped his board to the ground to snap in his boots, and then we zoomed off into the opposite direction of the sound. The night air pushed through my strands of hair harshly as Ikuto snowboarded down the hill in a desperate attempt to escape the snow landslide of snow, but couldn't keep up the same speed as the avalanche's progression. As he whizzed passed the trees down the hill, I made the mistake of turning my head a little to see behind us. I say it was a mistake since I really shouldn't have, because the scene scared the crap out of me. The snow was now in view, crashing behind us and destroying anything in its path, sparing not a single tree. It was at this moment that I remembered something I'd read in a book once – avalanches could reach up to eighty miles an hours with enough force. Why did I remember it at that moment? I have no clue, but my brain sure was stupid for retrieving the currently unwanted memory. How fast was this particular avalanche, I wondered?

I didn't really have that much time to ponder about that, because Ikuto suddenly made a turn near the side of the mountain – which at the time I thought was stupid. If the snow was coming the way we were just going, why turn horizontal!? It would surely catch up with us!

"What are you doing Ikuto!?" I shouted above the crushing sound of the snow.

"Look!" He yelled, pointing ahead of us. I looked up and saw that the mountain side he was heading for had a small indent in it – a cave? As we neared the dark cavern, Ikuto put all of his weight onto the correct direction of the board, the distance between us and the avalanche closing with terrifying speed. And still, we managed to make it into the little cavern without getting squashed by the inundation, but at the cost of our exit being sealed up by snow. There was the sound of rushing snow on the other side of the icy wall, and after what seemed like forever, it slowly came to a stop. Ikuto stood silently in the darkness for a moment before setting me down against the cave wall and snapping out of his snowboard, then came and kneeled beside me.

"Are you okay, Amu?" He asked, his face shrouded in the black of the cave, hindering all sight. I nodded stupidly before realizing that he probably couldn't see my face either, so I gave him a simple "yep" before he stood up for a moment, thinking about something, then I heard him walk deeper into the cave.

"I'll be right back Amu, I'm going to see if there's another way out of here."

"Be careful…" I warned him as I heard his footsteps become softer. There was no reply, but I wasn't worried about it. I yawned a little and starched my arms, grateful to finally be able to sit up again. My ankle had been throbbing the entire time we were trying to escape from the avalanche, but I didn't say anything. It would have been stupid too, since Ikuto wouldn't have been able to stop anyway. But now, I was about ready to complain, since the throbbing continued despite the fact I wasn't moving.

My eyes adjusted to the darkness eventually, not that it was important too, since there was nothing to look at in the damp cave. The cave was just as cold as outside had been, and there were traces of snow here and there, probably from earlier snow storms pushing it in or something. As I sat leaning up against the wall quietly, I continuously felt myself doze now and again. I was having trouble staying awake, since I hadn't gotten the chance to rest all day, and that whole avalanche ordeal really took it out of me even though I hadn't been the one doing the escaping.

In an attempt to keep myself awake, I thought about what I should do next. Earlier that day, Nagihiko told me it would probably be best if I made up with Ikuto. The problem was, I wasn't quite sure _how _to do that without sounding stupid. What was I supposed to say? 'Gee, I'm sorry for calling you a pervert Ikuto, even though you kinda are.' Or, 'I'm sorry for being mad at you all day; it was just one little grope incident!' No no no. That wasn't going to work. Well, maybe it could, if I worded it nicer. Making up nicely with Ikuto wasn't going to be easy this time. Maybe if I just said sorry and nothing else that would work…

"Boo." I suddenly felt Ikuto breathe down my neck. I gave out a short squeal before flailing my arms around a bit in surprise.

"W-w-what was that for!?"

"Well, you were sitting there with some sort of constipated look on your face and you weren't replying to me, so I said 'boo.' But if you want, next time I can just bite your ear…"

"That's okay!" I insisted, not wanting the option of the latter. Obviously pleased with my response, he took a seat next to me, a smile plastered on his face. "So, did you find anything?"

"No, it's a dead end cave." He said flatly, turning his attention down to me. My face practically flared under his amethyst gaze, and I soon discovered it was a good thing I couldn't stand at the moment because I felt my knees buckle a bit. If I was going to help put this morning little incident behind the two of us, now would be the right time too.

"Ikuto, I'm sorry…" I began, before stopping after hearing Ikuto say the same thing I said at the same time I did. I blinked. "What are you apologizing for?"

"What do you think?" He asked, sighing as he raised an eyebrow. I assumed we were talking about the same thing.

"I really shouldn't have kicked you this morning, that was rather… extreme of me."

"I'm used to you being an extremist," He shrugged "You've always been that way."

"No way!" I protested, surprised to hear someone tell me that for the second time that day, "How have I _always_ been an extremist!?"

He cleared his throat. "How about, 'it's the weird cat-eared cosplaying guy!', or that time you threw me into your closet, or that time you threw a fit over that teensy cut on my arm, or - "

"Okay, okay! I get the point, so I'm an extremist." I agreed reluctantly, crossing my arms.

"Exactly." He nodded triumphantly. I looked at our surroundings once more, analyzing our situation. Ikuto and I were now stuck inside a cave, with no way out until someone came to move all of the snow out of the way, which could possibly never happen.

"Ikuto, what happened to everyone else?" I asked, yawning again as I relaxed against the stone cave wall.

"After Rima called you about eighty or so times within twenty minutes and got no response, we called the ski patrol to go search for you."

"If ski patrol is supposed to be looking for me, then why are you here?"

He seemed stumped for a minute on how to answer that before saying: "If you want anything done right, you have to do it yourself." He said it like it was so simple. Had finding me really been that easy?

"So you _were _really worried about me!" I observed happily. He huffed at that.

"Well, so was everyone else."

"That's your excuse?"

"It sure is," He pulled out his cell phone from his pocket and began dialing a number. "I'm going to see if we have any reception in this area… probably not, but it's worth a try."

I nodded absently, feeling a wave of sleepiness come over me. I glanced at Ikuto again, wondering if he was as tired as I was. He had on a bored expression, lacking any appearance of fatigue at all. Was he just concealing it? I'm sure that trying to escape an avalanche while carrying someone on your back probably took a lot out of a person. But Ikuto had always been like that. Trying never to show any sign of weakness, for both himself and others. So considerate…

Wait, was I gushing over him now!? This was not the time to think up fantasies on how great he is! If I kept this up, I would surely wind up humiliating myself in front of him somehow. Well, _how _I didn't know, but if it involved Ikuto, then I probably would end up flustered somehow. I always did, and then he'd take back whatever he said to make me so ill at ease, thus making me look like a fool. I sometimes wished he'd be serious though, but then again, Ikuto had no idea I liked him so such comments from him were expected. They were just his way of joking around.

Oh yeah, that's right. I liked Ikuto. I hadn't really thought about that in awhile. I had planned on confessing to him today, but things went haywire and didn't turn out the way I wanted them too. This morning I'd decided while I was in the bathroom that today was not the best day to do so, but now I was having second thoughts. If we weren't found in time before this little cavern ran out of air, then I'd never get a second chance…

I felt a sudden light twinge of pain shoot through the left side of my head, centered at my ear.

"IKUTO! I told you not to bite my ear!!"

"What was I supposed to do? You were sitting there looking all out of it again. You do that a lot, you know." He commented.

"You could just tap my shoulder…" I suggested, knowing he'd probably never agree to that.

"But it's more fun to just bite you." He pointed out before continuing, "Well, I called Tadase while you were in lala land, but halfway through my telling him of where we were, I suddenly got a message saying we were out of the service area. Weird, since I did in fact get a chance to speak to him, but whatever. All we can do is wait, I guess." I nodded again, thinking about how stupid I was for not even hearing the conversation myself, even though I was sitting next to him.

I was beginning to doze off into an unconscious sleep state, when I felt Ikuto pull my cheek.

"Hey! What are you doing!?" I objected, swatting his hand away from my face.

"Falling asleep when it's cold is dangerous." He leaned up against the wall again, his arms pillowing the back of his head. I scowled, but complained no further. He was right, after all.

"But we could die either way in here…" I murmured, but then was surprised by my own words. I didn't correct myself though or try to lighten my statement, because it was true, and that was how I really felt about the situation.

"That may be true, but then again we also could live." He pointed out. Funny. For once, Ikuto was being the positive one. "You know, you're the one who taught me something similar to that, Amu."

"How did _I _teach _you_ something like that?" I ventured, surprised by his statement.

He sighed, and then gave me a look that just screamed '_is she serious?'_ "That day at the amusement park… you told me on that day that it should be my new beginning, since it was yours too. How can I make sure you keep up with that if you fall asleep?"

"Ikuto…" his avowal almost scared me. He was being so honest… well, in his own way, he was being honest. I could tell. I had no doubt in my mind that I'd found my special person. And so, it was my job to tell him how I felt. I didn't have Ran with me to help me be honest, so I was on my own. I scooted closer to him, careful to do so slowly as to not disturb my ankle, and did something I didn't do very often for people outside of my family, making it one of what I considered the best things I could do for another person. I hugged him. Even though he'd hugged me many times before, I knew it was different when _I _did it. Something about the rarity of mine made them special. I'd only hugged him willingly once before, that day when we fought Easter. And that had been the last day I'd done that for any of my friends. I suppose you could say I just wasn't a very touchy person.

I could tell Ikuto was surprised too. He stiffened up the same way he did the last time I'd hugged him, in a way that portrayed his astonishment towards my action. I wasn't too shocked when he wrapped his arms around me and hugged me back though, it was something I knew he would do.

"Hey Ikuto," I began. "Would you like to hear a secret?"

He chuckled. "If you believe I can keep it."

"I wouldn't be offering it to you if I didn't, stupid…" My voice trailed off. I was beginning to feel drowsy again, but I fought to stay awake.

"Okay then, spit it out."

"Hmmmm…" I paused for a moment before continuing, "Remember what I told you about Rima last night?"

"Mhmm." He replied simply.

"What if I told you that I wasn't talking about Rima, but someone else who was much more reticent than her?"

"My answer wouldn't change."

"So you're saying your solution was for everyone?"

"It was just my opinion, but yeah just about." He looked at me with a bored expression again, "Will you get to the point already?"

"Wait wait wait," I halted his hastiness, despite the feeling of drowsiness beginning to take its toll on me. He didn't seem to notice, which was good, since I didn't want to be interrupted. "So, what you're saying is, someone, _anyone,_ should say how they feel if they feel close enough to the other person, right?"

"Didn't we go over this already yesterday? That's what I was saying!"

I ignored his impatience and spoke slowly. "Okay then, I'm going to follow your advice," I took a deep breath through my nose, the cold was taking its toll on me, and I was unable to avoid nodding off… "Ikuto, I love you…"

Finally.

I'd said it, with not a second to spare. I felt really liberated, because now no one could expect me to be the same old _cool and spicy _Amu that they all knew. I felt that after this, I had just become one step closer to being my true self in a whole. Being honest… that was one aspect. And I'd finally proven I could do it on my own, with or without one of my Guardians help.

Ikuto didn't have a reply though, because soon after I said that, I fell into an unconscious state of slumber. I could feel him shake me, trying to wake me up, but my body wouldn't allow my eyes to open. I couldn't hear anything else, and I slowly lost my sense of feeling too…

Things became black, empty, and quiet.

***

"…and then, we can go on a roller coaster together! Right?"

"Of course we will, dear."

Voices. But not just any, they were familiar voices, swarming through my head. But I wasn't ready to see who any of them where yet. Not just yet…

"Well, we can come visit her tomorrow too. Visiting hours will be over soon, and I still need to cook dinner!"

"B-but, Mama!"

"Papa, don't be so loud! It can't be helped; we can visit Amu-chan first thing tomorrow, but their going to tell us to leave in a half hours so we might as well go."

"B-but…"

"PAPA! Listen to Mama, we can visit big sister tomorrow morning! She'll still be here, you know!"

A sniffle. "…Okay…" Footsteps. And then, silence. Why did I feel as though I'd been listening to nothing but silence for a long time? I couldn't remember anything… where was I?

Well, wherever I was didn't really matter. I was comfortable at the moment, so I continued to sleep. I slept, and dreamt of nothing but blankness. There was nothing there for me to think about, because I couldn't remember anything.

I would soon find myself waking again in a different way. Things were different now. I was allowed to open my eyes, and I discovered who I was and even where I was. The white curtains, sheets, and outfit told me I was in a hospital. The pink hair that shrouded around my shoulders and the golden eyes I saw in the mirror across from me told me that I was Hinamori Amu. And last but not least, the person sleeping at my bedside, as he sat in a chair and leaned forward onto the bed, his head resting in his arms, told me that I had memories that were begging to be remembered.

So it all came back. The trip, the argument, the ride up the mountain; the accident on the diamond run, the avalanche, and my confession. Those were my most recent memories. And so I returned to normal.

I gazed down at Ikuto, his features enlightened by the sun which shined through the window of the hospital room. He looked peaceful, yet so sad. And I understood why. I fell asleep on him, and caused not only him, but everyone else worry. When someone falls asleep in the cold temperature I did, it's quite possible that they might not wake up again. He was probably worried about that. So I had to comfort him…

I brought my hand up slowly and moved it over Ikuto's head, stroking his hair. It was still just like a cat's hair: soft, and clean. His sleeping expression was still the same. Everything was the same.

So when he woke up, I didn't expect any change in the way he normally acted. We were still the same people, and I still held the same feelings I had before. None of that had changed. But I didn't realize that I hadn't taken into account his feelings too.

When he woke up, his eyes widened in astonishment, and I returned his expression with a warm and welcoming smile, hoping that in itself would portray how happy I was at the moment to simply see him. He returned my smile with a smile of his own, and he sat up in his seat and rolled his chair closer to me. He then whispered in my ear, and I could hear the smirk he was wearing just by the tone of his voice.

"Hey, Amu."

"What?"

"I love you too."

* * *

**_Alex's notes:_**_ A Simple, perhaps even cliché, ending, but I'm very happy with it. Yep, I know, there was never a kiss at the end, but you people are smart! Use your imagination and think about what probably happens after that last part. ;D –chuckle~-_

_I got the idea for this as I was sitting at the dinner table about a month ago, while eating smothered chicken and thinking about skiing. :D_

_I was very reluctant to put the groping bit in the story because I wanted this fanfic to be more innocent than most other amuto stories out there, and show that Ikuto could be a bit of a gentleman, but I needed a good reason for Amu to be angry so I had no choice! D: I guess Ikuto's a destined pervert, chosen by the perverted gods of... pervertedness to always walk upon the path of a master pervert._

_I hope you enjoyed it. 3 Please R&R.  
_

_If I decide to write the other amuto story that I'm considering, then it will include a little less inhibition, but still within a T rating. I promise. :] That is, if I decide to write it. I'm still deciding whether the plot is worthy or not to write about. I will ponder about this.  
Tata~_


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